Meet Biden’s group of longtime, loyal aides and family who are advising the president as he weighs exiting the 2024 contest

President Joe Biden is becoming increasingly isolated and his inner circle is shrinking as he faces increasing calls to withdraw from the presidential race.

As the walls close in around the 81-year-old, aides who are on his side are on the lookout for leakers and reporting any signs of infidelity to First Lady Jill, DailyMail.com has learned.

Biden is leaning heavily on a close-knit group of allies and family members, who are growing increasingly brazen and frustrated.

During his COVID isolation at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, they have become even more protective as signs of the end of his political career have become apparent.

His wife Jill, sister Valerie Owens and son Hunter are still furious with some staff members for the way they handled the aftermath of the presidential debate during the car crash.

And his most dedicated advisors, Mike Donilon, Annie Tomasini and Anthony Bernal, who stood by him through the worst periods of his career, have enormous influence on all future decisions.

One source, who knows Biden’s entire circle, describes them as “terrified of Biden’s mood.”

As he becomes increasingly frustrated with the members of his group who abandon him, they are exposed to his wrath, which they have tolerated for years.

But as the president’s careers progressed, so did theirs, making them all intertwined.

What they all have in common is the reason they gained their positions of power and influence: loyalty to the Bidens.

Here’s a look at the players in Biden’s inner circle, from the most influential advisers to the family members who will make the final decision:

MIKE DONILON

Donilon, 65, has been with Biden since the beginning: in the Senate, in the vice presidency and in the White House.

He was with Biden when he won all his political campaigns. He was there when Beau Biden died.

Donilon was the man who devised the winning strategy for Biden’s 2020 campaign against Trump: a threat to democracy.

And it was Donilon who sent Biden to Capitol Hill after the debate to reassure lawmakers about his candidacy.

His value lies in the fact that he knows Biden so well that he can predict what the president is thinking and how he will respond to a given situation.

Donilon is the one Biden turns to for polling news, but that has led some Democrats to question what polls the president is seeing. Biden has repeatedly said he has seen polls that show he can win in November.

When former Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently spoke to the president and told him that she had seen polls showing he couldn’t win,The president pushed back, saying polls showed otherwise.

Pelosi challenged him, The New York Times reported.

“Put Donilon on the phone,” Pelosi told the president. “Show me the polls.”

Donilon left his West Wing job to work for the campaign, but where he works doesn’t change his influence. He’s a constant presence on the phone with Biden.

ANTHONY BERNAL

Bernal, 51, is a senior adviser to Jill Biden and a special assistant to the president.

Don’t let this mislead you.

It hardly comes close to the influence he wields in the White House. And as pressure mounts on President Biden to drop out of the race and the inner circle shrinks, Bernal’s influence has grown.

He is now monitoring his staff for possible leaks, DailyMail.com confirmed, and will report any instances of infidelity to the first lady.

Bernal has been with the Bidens since the 2008 campaign and is known as the enforcer inside the White House. He sits in on senior staff meetings in the West Wing. A former TV producer, he is present to check the settings for a public appearance by either Biden.

His loyalty to Jill Biden, whom he calls “our lady,” is unquestionable. He would take a bullet for her and then get up and stand in front of a moving train to protect her.

Bernal runs the East Wing, while Annie Tomasini, the White House deputy chief of staff, runs the West Wing. The pair speak several times a day and joke that they are each other’s working partners.

The two became “family” to the Bidens during the 2020 campaign, when they were the only ones allowed into the Bidens’ Wilmington home during the COVID lockdown.

And they intimidate younger employees because they don’t want to build bad relationships with each other.

They are the gatekeepers of the family and have a pass to the residence on the upper floors of the White House.

ANNIE TOMASINI

Annie is ‘family’.

When Jill Biden donated her inauguration outfits to the Smithsonian American History Museum, she invited her sisters and Annie Tomasini, the White House deputy chief of staff.

When the grandchildren travel with the president and first lady, it is 47-year-old Tomasini who keeps an eye on things.

And when employees have a break during long work trips, it is Tomasini who keeps a close eye on things to make sure nothing gets out of hand, especially when reporters are around.

She is the omnipresent presence at President Biden’s side, riding with him in the Beast on his travels, keeping tabs on his schedule, and guarding his access to the Oval Office.

She is a Catholic girl from Boston and has been captain of the Boston University basketball team three times.

She’s a longtime loyalist. Tomasini worked for Biden when he was a senator and later vice president.

She was with him in Las Vegas last week when he tested positive for COVID. And she rode with him in the motorcade to Rehoboth Beach, where the president is isolating with Jill Biden at their beach house.

Bernal is also at home.

OTHER TOOLS

Other advisers, such as Steve Ricchetti and Bruce Reed, have been advisers to Biden for years.

But they do not have the same influence as the core group.

They do have their territories. Ricchetti manages relations on Capitol Hill. Reed is the policy guru.

Meanwhile, close aides such as campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon, former chief of staff Ron Klain, attorney Bob Bauer and adviser Anita Dunn — all of whom helped prepare for the debate — are said to have stayed away due to the family’s anger.

JILL BIDEN

Don’t underestimate the power of the first lady.

She and Joe have been married for 47 years. He still calls her “the light of my life and the light of my love.”

She is also one of the last people he consults before making a final decision on an important issue, and has been described as his “gut check.”

Jill Biden was the first to defend him after his terrible performance in the debate against Donald Trump. She told him, “You answered every question.”

She has made it clear that she will support him and his desire to stay in the race.

“That’s the decision he made and just as he’s always supported my career, I’m going to go all out for it,” she said at campaign rallies in Florida last week.

She campaigned for him many times and at times spent more time on the trail than he did.

Additionally, the first lady touched on what the family has had to endure since Biden decided to run for president, particularly the federal lawsuits against Hunter over his gun purchases and his tax problems.

Finally, she is the keeper of the family flame and considers loyalty to be the ultimate quality. And the staff knows it.

She does have a playful side, including the occasional practical joke. But when Jill Biden, a university professor, uses her professor’s voice, aides jump to listen.

VALERIE BIDEN OWENS

Valerie Biden Owens, 78, the president’s younger sister, has long been one of his top political advisers.

She managed his first campaign for Senate in 1972 and has been closely involved in all of his campaigns since then, including his candidacy for president.

She also became a surrogate mother for Hunter and Beau after Biden’s first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, and their 1-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in a car crash in 1972, shortly after Biden won his first race for U.S. Senate.

She moved into her brother’s house to care for the boys while Biden commuted daily by Amtrak to Washington, D.C.

She remains an important sounding board for her big brother.

HUNTER BIDEN

President Joe Biden talks to his only surviving son every day and texts him several times a day.

And Hunter is adamant that his father should stay in the presidential race.

After the disastrous debate, Hunter Biden reportedly took a more active role in his father’s administration, even meeting with him in the White House.

Republicans have used Hunter’s business connections to bring down the president. Joe Biden has repeatedly said he has nothing to do with his son’s business.

And the family rallied behind Hunter during his recent trial. Valerie Biden was in court every day, and Jill Biden took four flights between Wilmington, Delaware, and Paris, France, to be with her stepson.

In addition, the Bidens have embraced his wife Melissa and son Beau, inviting them to major White House events, including the Easter Egg Roll and the arrival of the Christmas tree.

The family remains close.

No final decision will be made without Hunter’s input.