Former Biden White House staffer Michael Larosa alleged that former President Joe Biden's staff had made “really unethical” requests to the press, causing reporters to “bully” to favorably cover the president.
Larosa, a former spokesman for Lady Jill Biden, detailed the bullying campaign to “young Turkish” host Cenk Uygur on Tuesday.
“They bullied a lot of journalists, and I think they'll tell you that now. They wouldn't have told you back then,” Larosa insisted.
Former staff members claim that Biden's communications team is “very hostile and very suspicious” of journalists under Anita Dunn's leadership, acting as if they were run “from the bunker” while working.
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Former Biden White House official Michael Larosa recently told Cenk Uygur that Biden's press team had tried to “bully” journalists and cover the former president with light of flattery. (Paul Morigi/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP Getty Images)
He wondered whether the administration, which had been running a reelection campaign that claimed “democracy was at stake,” would take a very long time to trust the press and polls that showed the president from a negative standpoint.
“If we were running a reelection campaign years ago, why were we saying, 'Democracy at stake', why are we destroying journalism? We're destroying polls, we're voting people who are covering, talking or tweeting people who talk about the vote.
He also said, considering the “goodwill” that Biden had already had in the media, why did this bullying even need it?
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“It was so well-intentioned that I didn't understand [Joe Biden] I came out of Donald Trump with the media, with the media,” he pointed out.
The former staff member has revealed that members of the Biden team made “unethical” requests from journalists dating back to the president's 2020 campaign after questioning how the former president's team was “bullying the media.”
“I thought it was strange that they only had interviews because of 'citation approval'. Biden World had this about the approval of quotation marks, but everything had to be approved for quotes,” replied Larosa.
Biden's team of reporters is said to have had a “citation approval” process for reporters interviewing the former president. (Getty Images)
He then explains how this “citation approval” process works, and is responsible for determining “what the reporter can use, what the reporter can use” after an interview with the president.
According to LaRosa, young members of Biden's staff were “dog trained” on how to force the report to ask the president specific questions and make them accessible to those questions prior to interviews.
“I saw radio reporters trying to ask questions about radio reporters that summer, reminding me of being part of the campaign in 2020. These young news staff were like dogs trained to condition their questions for interviews in New Hampshire, Iowa or Nevada.
Biden is said to have used teleprompters for small-scale fundraising campaigns for private homes.
Larosa claimed he was never satisfied with these practices and asked staff on his team to “never” ask journalists to share their questions before an interview with the former first lady.
“I told them, 'Don't ask the journalists for questions in advance. You can always ask about the topic, but don't ask them about Dr. Biden's questions,” he explained.
“The Boys Side,” where the president's team was called LaRosa, was free to “do their own things” in regards to the media, but he made sure that the staff of his team informed them that they wouldn't follow.
LaRosa, a former spokesman for Jill Biden, claimed that before interviewing the former First Lady, he instructed his staff to “never” ask journalists about interview questions. (AP Photo/j. Scott Apple White)
“My job was to protect my boss and they were able to handle them, we called it the boys' side, the boys' team was able to do their thing in regards to preparation. [Joe Biden] For an interview. But I didn't want to – I was a former producer at NBC and knew I had a long relationship in the press. It was like a 101.
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These “unethical” practices were aimed at giving the former president an edge during the 2020 election cycle, but LaRosa believed that Biden had actually backfired.
Biden's only terminology turns out to be partially defined by his historical decision to delay his bid for reelection and concerns about his age and mental cognition. One White House reporter who covered Biden said Fox News Digital The issue of mental vision is the administration's “third rail” and is a term that is too subtle to debate.
“This is something you knew you would get in the penalty box if you asked or guessed, and there were a lot of large publications that were willing to do flashy articles about how Joe Biden would lead,” they said. “But somehow, this issue, the central issue, didn't come up until the Atlanta debate became inevitable, and it's not certain that many people slap their backs deserve it.”
Biden's only terminology as president was eroding by the consistent gaffe made between interviews, speeches and discussions. (Joe Biden in MSNBC screenshot)
Biden's team did “it's really good job hiding him,” the reporter added.
By the end of LaRosa's tenure with the Biden administration, he was sure that Biden's team of reporters had done more to harm the president's reputation than to help it.
“I learned over the next four years, and last summer I learned how bad their instincts were, and how their instincts were not very useful to the president.
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He continues to oppose the efforts of Biden's press team, saying the president's reporting “never got better.”
“It didn't benefit the Biden White House. The president's reputation, his image, his trust, his approval number never got better. There was no wave of coverage he received,” Larasa argued.
The Biden team did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Brian Flood and David Rutz of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
