Latest news with #Ex-Biden
Hindustan Times
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
‘Jill Biden aide had enormous power': DNC vice chair's bombshell admission on 2024 race
Democratic National Committee's vice chair David Hogg was caught on video making a bombshell admission on who 'actually ran the 2024 race' behind the scenes. The 25-year-old was filmed by Project Veritas as he said that former First Lady Jill Biden's chief of staff Anthony Bernal had 'enormous power'. Project Veritas released the sting-like video, showing a journalist talking with Hogg. As the DNC vice chair was asked about corruption within the unit, he said that the committee 'is always going to be a campaign arm of the president, ultimately'. He then explained that the 'bigger issue was like the inner circle that was around Biden'. 'Jill Biden's chief of staff had an enormous amount of power,' Hogg added. Ex-Biden staffer Deterrian Jones was also captured on video, saying: "That was like an open secret. I would avoid him, he was scary. Anthony Bernal. He's like a shadowy Wizard of Oz-type figure. The general public wouldn't know how this man looked, but he wielded an enormous amount of power. I can't stress to you enough how much power he had at the White House." This comes as CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson's book, 'Original Sin', revealed that former President Joe Biden's aides consider Jill Biden one of the most powerful first ladies in history. And that made her top aide, Anthony Bernal, one of the most influential people in the White House. "He would not be welcome at my funeral," a longtime Biden aide told the authors. The two journalists further added that Bernal 'considered loyalty to be the defining virtue and would wield that word to elevate some and oust others – at times fairly and at times not'. "'Are you a Biden person?' he would ask West Wing aides. 'Is so-and-so a Biden person?' The regular interrogations led some colleagues to dub him the leader of the 'loyalty police,'" they wrote.
New York Post
13-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Dem lawmakers, donors threw a fit after Biden's debate flop: ‘Who the hell is running the country?'
Democratic lawmakers and donors were apoplectic following former President Joe Biden's debate flop that eventually forced him to suspend his campaign, with some senior party operatives questioning 'who the hell is running the country,' according to a new book on the 2024 race, Biden's closest advisers watched the June 27, 2024, fiasco from a greenroom at CNN's Atlanta headquarters, where the debate was held — and former White House chief of staff Ron Klain knew right away the night was a 'disaster,' write Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper in their forthcoming tome 'Original Sin.' Just 11 minutes into the showdown, Biden fumbled a question about the national debt by uttering a non-sequitur — 'We finally beat Medicare' — and later lost his train of thought while trying to defend his record on immigration. 7 Just 11 minutes into the affair, Biden fumbled a question about the national debt by uttering a non-sequitur — 'We finally beat Medicare' — and later lost his train of thought while trying to defend his record on immigration. REUTERS 'I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence,' Trump famously fired back. 'I don't think he knows what he said either.' Thompson and Tapper, who co-moderated the debate with CNN colleague Dana Bash, write that 'it didn't seem as if Biden had any idea how bad his performance was, though he did say, 'Sorry about my voice; I have a cold.' … Jake didn't know what to say and attempted to make small talk with [Jill Biden] by showing her that he was wearing [Philadelphia] Phillies cuff links. 'Senior Democrats who had done work for Biden in 2024 later told us that they had watched the debate and wondered: Just who the hell is running the country?' Ex-Biden senior adviser Mike Donilon argued that Biden was 'bad but [the performance was] nothing they couldn't handle.' But other Democrats from coast to coast were pulling their hair out as the incumbent spoke in a soft, raspy voice and struggled to make his case for re-election. 7 Ex-Biden senior adviser Mike Donilon acknowledged too that Biden was 'bad but nothing they couldn't handle.' Getty Images 'This is a f–king disaster,' said former White House press secretary and current MSNBC host Jen Psaki, who cancelled a TikTok livestream after growing 'speechless' at Biden's incoherent and halting performance. Psaki worried about both Democrats' chances down-ballot as well as her former boss' health, as Biden continued to cough throughout the debate, according to Thompson and Tapper. Around 50 House Democrats were also gathered that night for a watch party in DC following weeks of their leadership defending Biden — only to begin 'panicking' within a few minutes of the debate kicking off. 7 'We're going to lose our f–king democracy because of you!' director Rob Reiner shrieked at second gentleman Doug Emhoff at a Los Angeles debate watch party. Getty Images for Equality Now 'I just lost my job,' one lawmaker griped to House Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.). 'What just happened is not acceptable,' another Dem fumed to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). 'Something has to be done.' At Biden campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., staffers gasped and one said the sight of the 81-year-old president grasping for his lines left them feeling 'like we'd all been punched in the stomach.' 7 'What just happened is not acceptable,' another Dem fumed to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). 'Something has to be done.' Getty Images Biden Victory Fund finance chair Chris Korge was even more blunt during an Atlanta watch party the same night with DNC chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez 'We are totally f–ked,' Korge reportedly said. 'This is over. It's all over.' In Los Angeles, Hollywood donors, Democratic governors and second gentleman Doug Emhoff crowded the Holmby Hills home of former US Ambassador to Spain James Costos for a debate viewing — billed as a Biden fundraiser — that quickly went south. 7 Harris got heated with CNN's Anderson Cooper in a post-debate intervew for defending Biden's 'strong finish' — and later dished to her aides that the 'motherf–ker' hadn't treated her 'like the damn vice president of the United States.' CNN 'We are f–ked!' director Rob Reiner erupted a few minutes into the gathering before taking his anger out on Emhoff: 'We're going to lose our f–king democracy because of you!' Vice President Kamala Harris was apparently 'surprised' at the panic while monitoring the debate from a conference room at the Fairmont Century Plaza, minutes away from where Reiner was venting at her husband. Having booked several post-debate interviews, she got heated with CNN's Anderson Cooper while defending Biden's 'strong finish' to the forum — and later dished to her aides that the 'motherf–ker' hadn't treated her 'like the damn vice president of the United States,' according to the book. 7 First lady Jill Biden eventually took the stage at a watch party near the CNN studio in Atlanta to try tamp down speculation about his fitness — but made the situation worse by showering him with 'infantile praise.' Getty Images 'He was a very different person on the stage four years ago when — when you debated him. You must — I mean, that — that's certainly true, is it not?' Cooper protested at one point. 'I got the point that you're making about a one-and-a-half-hour debate tonight,' Harris seethed in an apparently unscripted response. 'I'm talking about three-and-a-half years of performance and work that has been historic.' First lady Jill Biden eventually took the stage at a watch party near the CNN studio in Atlanta to try tamp down speculation about his fitness — but ended up making the situation worse by showering him with 'infantile praise,' Thompson and Tapper write. 7 The New York Post cover for Friday, June 28, 2024, the day after the debate. csuarez 'Joe, you did such a great job!' Jill Biden said, in an awkward moment that she later would admit looked 'terrible.' 'You answered every question! You knew all the facts!' When he took the mic, Biden dug himself deeper by claiming to quote from a John Wayne movie to call Trump and his supporters 'lying, dog-faced pony soldiers' — something the actor had never uttered. Asked last week on 'The View' whether he and his team shielded his cognitive decline from the public, Biden defiantly replied: 'They are wrong, there's nothing to sustain that.' 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again' will be available May 20.
New York Post
08-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
The week in whoppers: Chuck Schumer slams Trump's war on Jew-hate, Biden spins his record as a success and more
Diary of disturbing disinformation and dangerous delusions This tweet: We say: What's wrong with this guy? President Trump is pressing Harvard to clamp down on the harassment of Jews and abide by federal laws and court rulings barring discrimination. Advertisement He doesn't believe taxpayer money should support antisemitic, racist institutions. Does Schumer think that's 'cruel' or 'unjust'? The senator claims he's a 'guardian' of 'the people of Israel,' as his last name resembles the Hebrew word for that. But in practice he acts more like a guardian of the Jew-haters and bigots. This boast: Advertisement 'We had become so successful in our agenda, it was hard to say, 'I'm gonna stop now.' ' — President Joe Biden, in an interview broadcast Wednesday We say: Biden spent four years living in La La Land, claiming his team was doing a bang-up job. Truth is, it was his 'agenda,' more than anything, that turned the public against both him and Kamala Harris. If Biden hadn't 'stopped' by dropping out, voters would've surely stopped him, just as they did Harris. Advertisement This comment: 'I never saw that person [Biden], not a single time . . . that was on that debate stage.' — Ex-Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Monday We say: Psaki never noticed Biden's mental decline? Advertisement True, she served under Joe Biden for only his first 16 months, but signs that he was beginning to deteriorate were obvious even before he took office. Either Psaki spent zero time in Biden's company, or she's blind as a bat, deluded — or outright lying. This claim: 'Our people report straight down the line.' — NPR CEO Katherine Maher, Sunday We say: This is a news outfit that dismissed The Post's (accurate) 2020 scoop on Hunter Biden's laptop as a waste of time, falsely claimed scientists debunked the COVID lab-leak theory, portrays alleged illegal-immigrant gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia as an innocent 'Maryland man,' slams Trump and Republicans endlessly. . . Maher herself has called Trump 'a deranged racist sociopath' and found it 'hard to be mad' at the George Floyd protests, despite the lives lost and damage done. That's 'straight down the line,' all right — the far-left line. — Compiled by The Post Editorial Board
