The reported behavior of White House officials, including allegations of years of bullying and verbal sexual harassment against staffers, is accurate, a former Biden aide told Fox News Digital, saying the allegations should trigger an internal investigation. .
On Tuesday, the New York Post reported that Anthony Bernal, an openly gay aide to first lady Jill Biden, has a history of questionable conduct on the job. It was reported that she is considered “untouchable” because she is regarded as “her husband”.
According to the report, Mr. Bernal is known to speculate about the size of his employees’ penises, and one of the magazine’s sources believes that he aims to make people uncomfortable and gain an advantage. .
“It’s consistent with everything I experienced working there,” a former Biden aide who requested anonymity told Fox News Digital about the report.
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Anthony Bernal, chief of staff to the president and senior adviser to the first lady, is seen outside St. Edmund Roman Catholic Church as President Biden awaits his return after attending Mass on August 12, 2023 in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It will be done. (Mandel Gunn/AFP via Getty Images)
“We are surprised that it took this long for so many staff members to speak out,” they said. “I would not be shocked if this empowered current and past staff moving forward.”
according to As reported by the Post, two people said that Bernal shared his theory that the size of a person’s thumb correlates to the size of their penis. He is said to have engaged in similar conduct in the current White House, in his previous role on the Biden campaign, and while Biden was vice president.
“It’s about making people uncomfortable and gaining power,” one source told the magazine. “It’s Me Too – classic Me Too.”
Another person told the Post that Mr. Bernal often made guesses about the penis size of several people, including political aides and Secret Service agents.
A third added that before Biden took office, Bernal told a colleague he had a small penis during an argument. On another occasion, he commented on the “bulges of the staff in khaki”.
“There was a lot of inappropriate language, including talking about other people’s attractiveness at the oddest moments and speculating about their sex lives,” a source told the Post. “That’s just sexual harassment.”
Mr. Hsu insists that Mr. Biden is “not exonerated” and repeatedly blocks the Democratic Party’s characterization.
First Lady Jill Biden speaks with senior adviser Anthony Bernal before a speech at the Carondere Palace in Quito, Ecuador, May 19, 2022. (Erin Schaff/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Mr. Bernal also regularly questioned people’s sexuality and tried to invade their personal lives, according to the report after the magazine spoke to more than a dozen current and former employees.
Officials said they came forward to demand accountability for Bernal’s actions.
“If the White House Counsel is investigating the actions of a junior staffer in the scheduling and advance office, does that mean they are also investigating the White House chief of staff, Anthony Bernal?” Biden said. a former aide told Fox News Digital. “A dozen or so sources would seem to be enough to launch that kind of internal investigation.”
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients responded to the allegations by saying that he and the Bidens have “full confidence in Mr. Anthony’s character.”
“His many fans in the White House know him to be polite, tough, upholding the highest standards and dedicated to public service,” Zients told the paper. . “It is unfortunate that he has become the target of baseless attacks from anonymous sources.”
Meanwhile, a former aide also told Fox News Digital that Zients should be furious with the White House over the situation.
“From a communications approach, I wonder what they were thinking by including Jeff Zients’ name in a statement defending a man accused of more than bullying by more than a dozen employees. I have no idea,” said a former aide. “If I were Zyent, I would be furious that he was left out on the water without a paddle. Nobody tried to protect the serial abuser who has been a ticking time bomb for the Biden family for more than a decade. They didn’t protect me. If it weren’t for that book by the New York Times reporter, this case would have continued to attract attention.”
Mr. Huh testifies that he has “identified evidence” that Mr. Biden’s motives for keeping secret records were “pride and money.”
Annie Tomasini, Director of Oval Office Operations, and Anthony Bernal, Advisor to the First Lady, pictured outside the White House on February 16, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“In addition to linking the White House chief of staff to a culture of abuse, bullying, and harassment, they lifted the story in news outlets that rarely cover it with credibility,” the former aide added. “They go out of their way to tell everyone to ignore it.” [New York] post. But providing the White House chief of staff’s statement lends an avalanche of credibility to the story and provides a permission structure for other news outlets and journalists to advance their stories. ”
Officials told the Post they believed Mr. Bernal would not be affected by his close proximity to the first lady. She thanked Bernal in her book, Where the Light Enters, and said that Bernal gave her “insight and guidance.”
“He knows how much I love and respect him,” she added.
“Working for the Biden family is like living in another century,” a source told the Post. “You cannot speak out without fear of personal or professional retaliation.”
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“He is by far the worst and most well-known abuser, but the Biden White House is a magnet for ugly and abusive behavior in the workplace,” they continued. “This is completely unacceptable. [in] This day [and] Biden’s age is especially evident in his own stories of standing up to bullies. ”
The White House and the first lady’s office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment or whether they would investigate Bernal’s actions.
