Joe Biden’s debate stumble causes cracks in the White House

Internal drama. Leaks. Doubts. The pressure and chaos that have been unleashed since Joe Biden’s disastrous performance in the debate are causing cracks in a White House that until now had been characterized by discipline and loyalty.

For more than three years, the Biden administration has largely been a low-key operation, defined more by an insistence on highlighting its policies and avoiding intrigue. His aides typically kept any criticism of their boss or his performance out of the public eye. That has not been the case lately.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reflected Tuesday on the extraordinary moment facing the president and his team, as questions about the 81-year-old president’s age and mental capacity threaten to derail his reelection dreams. “It’s been an unprecedented moment,” she said of the scrutiny of the president. “We’re in a new moment that has never existed before.”

Biden’s shaky performance in the June 27 debate has led to unusually public finger-pointing, leaks of private phone calls between the president and Democrats and questions about his son Hunter Biden’s presence in the White House. It has led current White House officials to anonymously express concerns about Biden’s ability to do his job and even prompted the resignation of a radio journalist after details emerged that Biden’s campaign had provided her and another reporter with interview questions.

Not to mention all the drama on Capitol Hill, where a handful of House Democrats have publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race and others are debating behind closed doors whether to speak out against the president as party leaders try to rein their members in.

Biden has insisted he will stay in the race, and the tide of criticism may be subsiding, but it remains unclear whether the drama in the White House was a blip or will continue as the country heads toward the 2024 election.

Deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said Biden had “restored compassion, honesty and competence to the Oval Office” and built the most diverse government in history.

“As President Biden battled through and delivered the strongest record of any administration in modern times, there has not been a single week in which Washington has doubted him and his team,” Bates said. “Staff members are extremely proud of him and themselves and know the key is to focus on the job and the American people, not the noise.”

The solemn atmosphere at the White House during Biden’s presidency has been intentional: He wanted his administration to be seen as a return to normal government operations after the leak-prone Trump White House, where unfinished policies ended up on the front pages and details of private meetings sometimes became public while they were still taking place.

It was also a reflection of the enormous loyalty of Biden’s inner circle, many of whom have worked with the president for decades.

Biden’s debate performance drew a surprising amount of public criticism from some of his staunchest supporters, including former White House communications director Kate Bedingfield, who participated in a televised panel immediately after the event.

“Joe Biden’s performance in the debate was really disappointing. I don’t think there’s any other way to put it. His priority was to prove to the American people that he had the energy, the stamina, and he didn’t do it,” she said on CNN.

Following Biden’s ABC interview, which was partly intended to demonstrate that he can speak off the cuff, former White House communications official Michael LaRosa posted a scathing critique. “Just when you thought the president’s communications teams had lost all credibility, they are rushing to rock bottom and determined to continue to humiliate the president and the first family with misguided and poor media relations practices that day after day undermine their standing.”he said.

Privately, aides and allies were dismayed by Biden’s debate performance and questioned whether the campaign could be saved, especially as criticism mounted.

At Camp David the weekend after the debate, Biden’s family — particularly Hunter Biden and first lady Jill Biden — encouraged the president to stay in the race and questioned whether his staff had adequately prepared him. (Biden, for his part, has adamantly said the debate disaster was “nobody’s fault but my own.”)

Soon afterward, the presence in the White House of Hunter Biden — who is awaiting sentencing on three felony counts in a gun case — made some people uncomfortable, worried about the influence he might have on his father, according to two Democrats close to the White House who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

Questions have also been raised about Biden’s long-term strategy of limiting public interactions, especially with reporters, under a directive issued by senior advisers. Biden has granted fewer interviews than his modern predecessors and held fewer news conferences than any president since Ronald Reagan.

Bates said the strategy “it is and has been for the American people to hear directly from Joe Biden”He noted that Biden gave an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday, has answered reporters’ questions more than 580 times and is traveling the country communicating directly with people.

White House officials recently aired their concerns about the president and his capabilities in national news stories. One of the officials who raised alarm bells at The New York Times sounded a bit like “Anonymous,” the Trump staffer who voiced his discontent about the Trump presidency in a New York Times op-ed and later made his complaints public.

“This is not like the last government, where we tried to find out who is talking or leaking, that is not something we do here”Jean-Pierre said when asked about the official’s comments. “Everyone has their opinion.”

He said he had not heard anyone express criticism like that appearing in the posts.

In an attempt to lift staff morale, Biden’s chief of staff, Jeff Zients, urged White House advisers during a meeting last week to tune out the “noise” and focus on the business of governing.

There have been public stumbles, too. Jean-Pierre told reporters that Biden had not received a visit from his doctor since his physical, but the president later told campaign officials that his doctor visited him after he felt ill upon returning from grueling travel abroad.

White House aides for days refused to explain repeated visits by a neurologist that had sparked speculation that Biden was receiving treatment, and Jean-Pierre was scathing about the issue on Tuesday.

On Sunday, a radio host quit her job after news broke that she and an interviewer from another station had asked Biden questions provided to them by his campaign.

The interviews were supposed to be part of an effort to restore confidence in Biden’s ability not only to govern for the next four years but also to run a successful campaign, but the revelation only added to criticism that he could not handle non-predetermined questions.