How Jill Biden’s top adviser now ‘controls everything’ despite claims of sexual harassment, bullying and fixation with ‘size of male staffers’ endowments’

After Thursday’s disastrous CNN debate, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill tried to preempt the inevitable backlash by covering up the debacle with a series of superficial publicity appearances.

After a brief visit to a debate night hosted by die-hard Biden supporters, a midnight visit to a Waffle House in Atlanta followed.

As the president — still looking stunned after his televised humiliation — greeted his fellow diners, who remained seated awkwardly, Jill walked up to the counter and giggled, “Order for Biden.”

But despite her cunning attempts to cover up the cracks, what happened next seemed to reveal much about the panic going on behind the scenes.

One of the reporters who had entered the Waffle House with the TV crews asked the president how he thought he had done during the debate with Donald Trump.

“I think we did a good job,” Biden said, before breaking into a smile as he was peppered with follow-up questions about “concerns” about his competence.

Then came the blink-and-you-miss-it moment: Right behind Biden, but still in frame, Jill looked at an otherwise unremarkable man with thinning hair and a beige suit jacket. He raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes, looking startled.

A quiet but perhaps telling interaction – for this man was Anthony Bernal, Jill’s ever-present and most senior advisor.

Behind the walls of the White House, Jill Bernal, 51, calls her “work husband.” The two rarely see each other apart.

‘Bernal is the most powerful person in the East Wing [the First Lady’s White House quarters]“He has a say in everything that happens, from travel and scheduling to speeches and messages… He’s in meetings with the seniors every day,” says Jill’s biographer Katie Rogers.

Crucially, Bernal helps “blueprint” and orchestrate “what the president looks like when he… [the public] “See him, not just the first lady,” Rogers added.

And as pressure mounts on Jill — described by Biden insiders as “the one person” who could convince the ailing president not to run in 2024 — and allegations swirl about the extent of her influence within the White House, Bernal’s role is also coming under increasing scrutiny.

On Sunday, the Bidens escaped for a post-debate debriefing and a reportedly pre-scheduled photo shoot with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz at Camp David.

And it was from those cozy presidential log cabins that Jill placed a call to Vogue magazine, with a last-minute update on her cover interview scheduled for Monday.

‘[We] will not let those 90 minutes define the four years [Joe’s] president. We will continue to fight,” Jill insisted to Vogue.

In the closing paragraphs of the lengthy magazine profile, Bernal appears – quoted in public.

“Her family means everything to her,” he purrs. “She’s a private person at her core.”

And no one is better prepared to help Jill hide her personal problems than Bernal.

‘He’s known as a bit of a controlling person. He can be aggressive… [he] makes life hell for junior [White House] “We were our assistants,” says biographer Rogers.

At public events, meetings and even family vacations, Bernal is a fixture in Biden’s furniture. Nothing, it seems, goes without his approval.

“He has an unparalleled ability to influence the situation within the president’s team,” a former colleague told the New York Post in March.

It was Bernal who met Hunter Biden and his wife Melissa after Hunter was found guilty in his gun case last month.

As he ran toward Hunter at an airport in Delaware, Bernal gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug, before turning to Melissa and doing the same.

It was Bernal who personally drove Jill and the president from the CNN studio in Atlanta to the viewing party and “spontaneous” visit to Waffle House after Thursday’s debate.

And it is Bernal who now stands firmly at Jill’s side as she and a select circle of advisers — including Hunter — advise the president not to give in to growing calls for his resignation from within the Democratic Party.

“No order is beneath Bernal,” Rogers says. “He keeps the dog in check, he transports the White House cat in her cage, he makes sure the various Biden children and grandchildren are taken to the right weekend retreats.”

But it is precisely this close bond with the Bidens and his unquestioned loyalty that has raised fears that Bernal may be enjoying special protection.

In March, the New York Post conducted a major investigation that polled nearly a dozen current and former White House staffers who accused Bernal of bullying and verbal sexual harassment.

According to the allegations, Bernal “frequently” speculates about the donations of fellow political advisers and even Secret Service agents.

He is said to have accused colleagues of having a “small penis” during discussions and once made a comment about the “bulge in a co-worker’s khakis.”

“There were a lot of inappropriate comments made, talk about other people’s attractiveness and speculation about their sex life at very odd times,” another source claimed.

Others allege that Bernal – who is gay himself – openly speculates about the sexuality of other employees at work.

“I’ve heard him say inappropriate things about people’s sexuality,” an insider who worked with Bernal told The Post. “I’ve heard him ask people all the time whether they’re gay. … I can think of more than one instance where he pontificated on whether someone was gay or not or said, ‘They’re definitely gay.'”

“It’s Me Too, classic Me Too,” another source claimed.

Bernal, who worked for Jill during the Biden presidency and previously held positions with the family when Joe was vice president to Barack Obama, denies all allegations against him.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, he described the claims as “false” and “baseless” and “nothing more than homophobia and racism”. He added: “I conduct my personal and professional interactions with integrity, compassion and care.”

When the Post published its investigation in March, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients said in a statement to the newspaper: “The President and First Lady have complete confidence in Anthony’s character, as do I. It is disappointing that he has been the target of unfounded attacks from anonymous sources.”

Outside of work, Bernal is very protective of his privacy.

He attended school in Tucson, Arizona, graduating in 1991. He then went on to study history and philosophy at the University of Texas.

He held junior positions under President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore before joining the Bidens in 2008, joining the Obama campaign as a staffer for Jill.

He quickly emerged as a key support figure, a role he cemented after the Bidens’ 46-year-old son Beau died of brain tumors in 2015.

‘Part of that relationship was definitely cemented by the way he was able to keep things quiet, keep their privacy intact [after Beau’s death]’, says Rogers. ‘Someone told me he would walk in front of a speeding train [Jill].

Her fierce loyalty has earned Bernal considerable influence with both the first lady and the president.

As concerns mount about Joe Biden’s fitness to hold office and run for office in November, the extent to which Bernal played a role in the White House’s stubborn refusal to tolerate criticism must certainly be questioned.