Biden Frustrated With White House Comms Team Publicly Undermining Him: Report
MANDEL NGAN/AFP
President Joe Biden is reportedly frustrated with White House aides undermining his authority by rushing out statements clarifying his public comments.
The nugget of information is revealed in a four-byline deep dive from NBC News titled “Inside a Biden White House adrift,” with a dek that reads “Amid a rolling series of calamities and sinking approval ratings, the president’s feeling lately is that he just can’t catch a break — and that angst is rippling through his party.”
The report explores Biden’s frustration and suggests a possible shake-up among senior aides, most notably Chief of Staff Ron Klain stepping down and being replaced by long-time Biden ally Anita Dunn.
When reached for comment, the White House pushed back on the report.
“The breathlessness of paragraphs 1 & 2 versus the denial being relegated to graph 28 tells you what you need to know about this story. And as we’ve said before, no clarifications of the President’s remarks are ever issued without his direct approval.” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher.
But focusing on the world of political media, Biden has reportedly expressed disappointment with what is referred to as a “pattern” inside the West Wing in which aides rush to insist that he meant something else instead of a “clear and succinct statement.” From the report:
Beyond policy, Biden is unhappy about a pattern that has developed inside the West Wing. He makes a clear and succinct statement — only to have aides rush to explain that he actually meant something else. The so-called clean-up campaign, he has told advisers, undermines him and smothers the authenticity that fueled his rise. Worse, it feeds a Republican talking point that he’s not fully in command.
The issue came to a head when Biden ad-libbed during a speech in Poland that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.” Within minutes, Biden’s aides tried to walk back his comments, saying he hadn’t called for Putin’s removal and that U.S. policy was unchanged. Biden was furious that his remarks were being seen as unreliable, arguing that he speaks genuinely and reminding his staff that he’s the one who is president.
Another example of this dynamic was in full view a week ago when during a joint press conference in Japan, Biden avowed military support in the event that China was to invade Taiwan. Shortly after, aides rushed out a statement intending to clarify what the Commander in Chief “meant.” In so doing, his aides made Biden look weaker and a puppet to the whims of his senior aides.
Even Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich defended the president in this instance, saying of White House aides who put out the backtracking statement: “He’s the president, they’re not.”
As the report states, there is a narrative among conservative media and Republican circles that Biden is not truly in charge of the White House, which is purely an unprovable opinion.
Having aides put out statements that undermine the sitting president’s authority, however, does fit that narrative. This suggests that some senior White House aides are putting their interests ahead of the president’s, which cannot be a great working dynamic, nor a positive bellwether for the near-term careers of some senior White House communications aides.
