
As their resentment of his staff comes to light, President Joe Biden‘s family is making an effort to get more involved in his campaign and White House activities.
According to someone with experience in family relations, “the discussion The family can now surpass the staff and begin supporting their beloved father and brother thanks to the fiasco.”
Thirteen people who are familiar with the dynamics told NBC News that the president’s debate performance has exacerbated the long-simmering rift between his family and some of his closest advisers. Some Biden allies believe that the family is taking advantage of the situation to try and settle past grudges. Family members see the dispute as the result of advisors’ poor counsel, which they don’t think has helped the president effectively express his political appeal.
Some Biden staff members are enraged by the infighting because they believe that finger-pointing is impeding the kind of all-hands-on-deck strategy that would enable the president to overcome this crisis.
According to a Biden campaign aide, “It’s not helpful.” Some Biden supporters believe that while the family is taking a more sentimental approach to the situation, the president’s advisers are handling the majority of the management and coordination of the post-debate strategy.
The Biden family, according to a second source close to the president, is not seeing the political landscape properly.
“It’s Shakespearean,” the individual exclaimed.
In an interview with ABC News on Friday, Biden claimed he accepted full responsibility for his performance in the debate, stating that “nobody’s fault but mine.”
The appearance of Hunter Biden in White House meetings this week was just one example of the anticipated increased involvement of the Biden family. In addition to visiting the White House with other family members this week, Valerie Owens, the president’s sister, made plans to meet in person to discuss her brother’s campaign.
According to two persons familiar with the situation, Biden’s family has debated whether or not to terminate Anita Dunn, a senior White House aide, and her husband, Bob Bauer, who serves as Biden’s personal attorney. However, four sources close to the Biden family claimed that there is currently no active effort underway to restructure the workforce. They claimed that people close to the president make an attempt to act in a measured, methodical, intelligent, and concentrated manner.
Anita and Bob are two members of the team that the president and first lady fully trust, according to a statement from White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients. “These baseless and derogatory rumors are completely false.”
One of the individuals claims that since the debate, members of the Biden family have felt that some of the president’s closest advisers, both in the White House and during the campaign, have abandoned him rather than accepting accountability for the disastrous debate performance.
“I think the family has seen a lot of mistakes made by important staff members, and the argument is probably what finally broke the camel’s back,” the source stated. After the discussion, the ostensibly obedient staff threw the finger back at the president and said, “His fault,” rather than accepting accountability. There isn’t another single thing that comes to me that would enrage the Biden family more.
The greater worry among some members of Biden’s inner circle at this point is that internal conflicts that they had long since settled could become visible as pressure on the president grows. Family talks have mostly focused on how to support the president going forward, according to five people with direct knowledge of the situation.
The relationship has become so bad that President Biden personally called his former chief of staff and longstanding adviser Ron Klain on Sunday to clarify that the reports did not represent the family’s or his own thoughts, after it was learned that the family was criticizing his debate preparation team.
There is a common belief among Biden’s closest advisors that he performs best when he is spontaneous and unscripted. During the last two State of the Union addresses, for example, he was at his best when he was debating Republican critics in the House chamber as opposed to reading from a teleprompter.
However, when asked why he doesn’t frequent those settings more frequently, they frequently accuse one another, claiming that he is being shielded from criticism or from situations where he could make mistakes by a different group of advisers.
While some family allies have accused “the firm,” as they refer to it, of controlling the president too much, advisors have frequently and tactfully stated that the president’s family, including both his biological relatives and those long-term employees who are regarded as family, is being unduly protective.
Allies have questioned whether Biden has been unduly shielded and sheltered out of fear of making a mistake, or if his extended use of bubble wrap has diminished his comfort level in those situations.
Hunter Biden’s increased participation has caused confusion for some White House employees and reopened a long-standing grievance.
According to a person acquainted with family and staff interactions, the family views this as all about “old wounds being reopened,” especially in light of Bauer and Dunn’s suggestions that Hunter Biden keep a lower profile than he has in the previous two years.
Hunter Biden’s engagement in political matters was justified by Michael LaRosa, the First Lady’s former White House communications chief, who claimed that the president’s son had shown political astuteness as an attorney with a Yale education.
In an interview, LaRosa stated, “They have $250 million, and so far, the campaign has been far less effective at political knife-fighting and media strategy than they have been.”
In the end, President Biden cherishes the unvarnished counsel from his siblings, sister, and children, with whom he is very close. and if they believe they are looking in from the outside, it would make sense that they are frustrated.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates responded in a statement when asked to comment on Hunter’s attendance at meetings this week, saying, “After their family vacation at Camp David, Hunter returned with the President, and they immediately began speech preparation,” which was a reference to Biden’s getting ready to speak about the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
A jury in a federal court in Delaware last month found Hunter Biden guilty of counts pertaining to firearms. He has entered a not-guilty plea to the tax-related charges for which he is still under indictment.
Republicans have frequently targeted him, including former President Donald Trump, with attacks based on Hunter Biden’s international business transactions and whether or not he profited from his father’s political prominence.
According to a person familiar with family and staff interactions, Dunn and Bauer haven’t been afraid to give the president and first lady “the truth,” even if other aides who have worked with them for much longer might occasionally be reluctant to do so.
A Biden aide stated, “There are legitimate worries that we might not be able to bounce back, defeat Trump, and win, as she assisted the President in doing when he overcame his early 2020 primary setbacks. Among the most well-liked individuals in the Democratic Party, the White House, and the campaign is Anita.”
In his Friday TV interview, Biden repeatedly brought up his triumph in 2020, citing his one-time victory over Trump as well as the Democrats’ surprisingly good midterm performance in 2022 to argue that he had been written off previously and had succeeded.
According to Biden, “We outperformed virtually every other sitting president in an off-year.”
Additionally, he dismissed demands for him to withdraw, claiming that the “Lord Almighty” was the only one who could persuade him to withdraw from the race and that “the Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”