First lady Jill Biden’s former press secretary on Thursday slammed the White House communications team’s narrative, saying they live in “a different world” after senior officials praised President Biden’s work at a NATO press conference.
“Right now, there are two different realities within my party. There is Michael LaRosa, who served as press secretary to First Lady Jill Biden; I wrote to X On Thursday night, Republican spokesperson Sarah Matthews responded to a post criticizing White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates.
“What follows is an alternate world that most of us Democrats don’t actually live in. Consistency at the first ‘big boy press conference’ of 2024 isn’t the standard most of us expect… but apparently it’s the standard set by Biden’s own staff… and it’s pretty ‘insanely’ scary.”
Matthews criticized Bates. Post to X He made the remarks at Biden’s highly anticipated NATO news conference on Thursday night, after a senior staff member said, “To answer your question, no, Joe Biden does not have a PhD in foreign affairs. He’s just damn smart.”
Biden used the word “anyway” at least nine times to pause during press conferences
Former spokesman for Jill Biden, Michael LaRosa (left), said Andrew Bates (right)’s “objective is to get around the boss and drink the Kool-Aid” referring to President Biden. (Getty Images)
“1) Right now, literally no one is asking that question,” Matthews said. I wrote it to X. “2) Saying ‘fuck you’ from the official White House account is unbecoming of the job. Try harder.”
“Everybody evaluated the president’s performance based on how they wanted to feel or how they already felt about the situation,” LaRosa told Fox News Digital.
Top Democrat on House Intelligence Committee urges Biden to suspend campaign activities after NATO press conference
US President Joe Biden speaks at a press conference on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, DC, Thursday, July 11, 2024. (Photographer: Graham Sloane/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Andrew’s frenzy in response to Sarah is an example of the division within the Democratic Party, unfortunately. But that’s Andrew’s job, and he’s very good at it. His goal is to stoke the frenzy around his boss so that everyone else drinks it up too. If I were Biden, or any other senator or candidate, I wouldn’t have anyone better to have my back than Andrew Bates.”
“But for those of us inside and outside the party, we have a responsibility to distinguish rhetoric from reality. As I told Jesse Watters before the debate, the reality is that no one has ever questioned or doubted Joe Biden’s command of complex and nuanced domestic and foreign policy,” LaRosa continued. “He can blow the media, his opponents and his constituents away with substance and performance. That’s not what the noise and the debate is about. The hurdles the president didn’t clear, and the reason Democrats are worried, are because they feel Biden hasn’t met or cleared them in terms of presentation, agility and sharpness.”
LaRosa said he worried that “people around the president could unintentionally lower his standards.”
“He’s a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a former vice president and current president, and he’s met with leaders around the world,” LaRosa said. “He’s been negotiating with Russia since his mid-30s. I don’t give him enough credit because, frankly, we’re holding him to a lower standard. As Democrats, it distracts us from the reality of the challenge before us. In times of political crisis, we need outsiders who can set aside the Kool-Aid for a while and drink the water.”
Bates’ post also drew strong criticism from conservatives on social media.
“Right after confusing Zelensky with Putin, you’ve now confused Harris with Trump,” said Abigail Jackson, a spokeswoman for Republican Sen. Josh Hawley. Post to X refer Biden’s gaffe Just before the press conference.
“Literally no one is asking that question right now,” said Steve Guest, a conservative communicator. Posted in X.
“The question that comes to my mind is, what exactly is wrong with these people?” says journalist Josh Barro. Posted in X.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
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President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn to board Marine One before departing the White House on December 8, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Biden has faced growing calls from members of his own party to drop out of the race over concerns about his age and was widely criticized by Republicans over his performance at the NATO news conference. But Mike Biundo, a former adviser to President Trump and a longtime Republican strategist, told Fox News Digital he believes it’s “100 percent a win-win” for Republicans and the Trump campaign.
“Biden appears to have done enough to convince his defenders that he should remain the nominee, while at the same time reaffirming what the American people know: their lives are hurting every day by Biden’s weaknesses and failures,” a Trump campaign official, who asked not to be identified and speak freely, told Fox News Digital after a press conference Thursday night.
Several Democrats and progressives joined Bates in defending Biden’s performance.
“Tonight, Joe Biden went into length and detail about the key national security issues he’s addressing and calmly and forcefully defended his view of the state of this campaign,” said Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s former communications director. Post to X“Fifty minutes of Q. He was supposed to be big tonight and that’s exactly what happened.”
“This is a very strong performance,” said Joel Rubin, a former State Department official during the Obama administration. Posted in X. “Speaking frankly, @POTUS is giving a master class on how foreign and domestic policy intersect, and explaining how important America’s global leadership is to our people at home. Well done, Mr. President.”
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
