The White House took unusual steps to keep President Joe Biden out of the public eye and away from many daily duties, a new report alleges.
The Wall Street Journal shared that White House staffers kept Biden insulated from the outside world while Cabinet members independently implemented Biden’s agenda. The outlet based its findings on nearly 50 on-and-off-the-record conversations with staffers and other insiders.
“They body him to such a high degree,” an unnamed source told the Journal, criticizing top aides’ “hand-holding” of the president.
As Biden's term wore on, Cabinet officials took calls with Biden less frequently, the report alleges, directing their agencies without the president’s oversight.
Biden staffers kept a tight circle, shielding the president from second opinions, the report claims.
House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith, D-Wash., alleges he had trouble sharing his concerns with Biden ahead of the 2021 withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, only hearing from the president after he criticized the hasty retreat in the press.
“The Biden White House was more insulated than most,” Smith said.
Other disgruntled congressional Democrats corroborated that account. Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes said he also had no “personal contact” with Biden during negotiations to reauthorize a controversial surveillance law.
An unnamed Cabinet official reportedly told the Journal they met individually with Biden “at most twice in the first year” and infrequently in small-group settings. Cabinet aides said the White House would step in to issue broad directives but largely stayed out of details.
Not every Cabinet member agrees with the hands-off characterization, however.
“I spoke with him whenever we needed his guidance or his help,” Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough shared.
Murmurs of Biden’s physical and cognitive decline came to a head this summer when a poor debate performance led the president to quit his re-election bid. Still, his office maintains the president was and is fit to lead.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden had “the most accomplished record of any modern commander in chief and rebuilt the middle class because of his attention to policy details that impact millions of lives.”
Biden, 82, is the second-oldest person ever elected to the presidency, beaten only by 78-year-old Donald Trump last month.
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