An explosive report Thursday revealed that White House aides concealed President Biden’s apparent mental decline from the first day of his presidency, shielding the aging commander-in-chief from the public and even scattered demonstrations. After re-arranged his schedule.
The lack of accessibility of the oldest president ever is well known in Washington — Biden hosted the fewest major press conferences in modern history and was often guffawing at the podium when he appeared — but the White House has According to how much of the mist was replenished, was still hidden wall street journal,
The presidential staff formed a tight circle around Biden, 82, when he took office amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with staffers immediately limiting their personal interactions in January 2021.
But staffers also began making adjustments to daily plans when the president appeared tired or faltered on the world stage — both figuratively and literally.
By spring 2021, meetings were being rescheduled to accommodate his “good days and bad days”.
According to the Journal, a national security official told an aide at the time: “He had good days and bad days, and today was a bad day so we’ll discuss it tomorrow.”
The meetings were often scheduled late in the day — a fact that first came to light after Biden’s debate flop against President-elect Donald Trump, when staffers acknowledged the then-Democratic nominee was having difficulty getting work done. Six-hour window that cuts off around 4 p.m. daily,
Once inside the room with the President, officials were instructed to keep their briefing short and to the point.
The White House even hired a voice coach, Hollywood mogul and campaign co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, to try to improve his faint, hoarse voice.
Other staffers removed negative reports from Biden’s day’s news pile, misleading him about public opinion about his job performance — which Reaches 70-year low in 2024,
Deputy press secretary Andrew Bates disputed his boss’s characterization.
“President Biden speaks with members of his Cabinet daily and with most members several times a week, staying close to them about implementing key legislation and strengthening our national security,” Bates said in a statement.
“President Biden leads a modern administration. Cabinet meetings are an important tradition, but the contemporary work environment means they can become fewer and farther between.
But these signs were present throughout his tenure in the Oval Office: He often relied on notecardsseen doing Extensive guidelines were published for thisOften names of foreign dignitaries mixed up or other facts and was surprised when they went off script or were ignored his teleprompter,
The President’s meeting with Special Counsel Robert Hur, which was later interpreted as “deliberate” retention of classified documents, also tested his mental stamina.
According to the WSJ, Biden was the one who reportedly pushed for the Hoor interview, and staffers supported the decision in hopes of showing that Biden is better than Trump, his opponent in the 2024 presidential race. There were more co-workers.
But preparing for the interview soon turned into a headache. According to the outlet, preparation sessions took three hours a day and Biden would forget his “lines” and his energy levels would fluctuate. A transcript posted after the grueling two-day case in October 2023 revealed her The forgotten year his son Beau Biden died of brain cancer,
“Every person who has ever prepared for a legal interview has forgotten some preparation,” a Bidenworld source told The Post, dismissing the president’s hazy recollection.
The circle around Biden was equally tight during his brief and unsuccessful re-election campaign, with staffers firing so many questions that donors wondered about his degree of control.
According to the Journal, campaign staffers were also concerned that First Lady Jill Biden would outscore the president during the 2020 primary election as well.
Michael LaRosa, his press secretary at the time, told the outlet, “The more you talk about him, the more you make him look bad.” They were instructed by Jill’s closest confidant: White House staffer Anthony Bernal.
First Lady also during her husband’s tenure tried to stop him Staying alone at press conferences for long periods of time, out of fear that he would come under question as the event progressed.
“President Biden has earned the most accomplished record of any modern commander-in-chief and his attention to policy details affecting the lives of millions of people, his active solicitation of diverse opinions from outside experts, everyday Americans, members of the The middle class has been rebuilt. “Because of Congress and other elected officials, his Cabinet and historians, and his determination to deliver a big-picture economic agenda that realized the key priorities that needed to be addressed,” Bates said in a statement to The Post. But Democrats have worked for decades.
“During every presidency, there are inevitably some people in Washington who don’t get as much time with the president as they would like; But that doesn’t mean the president isn’t fully interacting with others, as this president does.”
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