As the ailing Joe Biden’s term comes to an end, many in Washington agree that it is difficult to say who was actually in charge of running the country for the past four years.
The 82-year-old Biden leaned on a close circle of unelected advisers and officials placed in roles usually filled by the president, it has emerged.
Throughout his presidency, the White House conducted an extensive, deliberate, and years-long cover-up in an attempt to conceal his rapidly declining mental condition. research from The Wall Street Journal has exposed.
A well-connected Democratic strategist confirmed to DailyMail.com that influence on Biden was “concentrated by people who are not outward-looking,” including his closest advisers Bruce Reed, Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon.
He was also protected by senior advisers who were given roles that others believed the president should have filled. Officials in attendance included Ricchetti, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and National Economic Council head Lael Brainard.
Biden’s lower-level staff have long complained that this secretive “triumvirate” — also known as the “Biden whisperers” — was developing outsized influence over America’s oldest-ever president.
It was also revealed that his team hired a vocal coach, canceled meetings on his “bad days” and kept him at a distance from his own cabinet members.
The administration would also target those who dared to claim that Biden’s abilities had deteriorated since he was Barack Obama’s vice president.
Joe Biden, 82, leaned on a close circle of unelected advisers and officials placed in roles usually filled by the president, it has emerged. He is pictured stumbling while walking on a Delaware beach with his wife Jill Biden last month
The influence on Biden was ‘concentrated by people who are not outward-looking’, including his close adviser Bruce Reed (pictured with Biden in April)
During Biden’s presidency, aides often had to give him directions during events. He was given simplistic instruction cards with detailed directions on where to walk, sit and look.
Biden’s team even asked Hollywood studio mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg to find a voice coach to improve his wavering and fading voice. And when his voice failed him, the team helped Biden find ways to avoid phone calls or public events.
One person who witnessed what happened to Biden over the past four years told the Journal that a small group of aides stayed close to him at all times and provided intense “hand holding.”
“They bodied him to such an extent,” the source claimed.
At the same time, press workers charged with compiling news clips were instructed by senior staff to withhold any negative stories about the president.
The protective circle around Biden was strengthened because he entered the White House at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and his staff took extensive measures to prevent him from contracting the virus.
But the strategy was also intended to prevent Biden from making blunders or physical missteps that would damage his image or cause headaches for Democrats.
Steve Ricchetti (left) and Mike Donilon (right) were among those who influenced Biden
Biden was also protected by senior advisers who were given roles that others believed the president should have held. Officials in attendance included Ricchetti, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (left) and National Economic Council head Lael Brainard (right).
According to a bombshell report, the White House tried to hide Joe Biden’s rapidly declining mental state from the public throughout his presidency.
However, despite the efforts of “eager beaver handlers,” Biden’s decline became increasingly apparent, especially after Special Counsel Robert Hur released a report last year that depicted a forgetful and weak, then 81-year-old.
Hur decided not to charge Biden with keeping classified documents in his Delaware garage because he would “likely present himself to a jury” as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, older man with a bad memory.”
Biden couldn’t even repeat what his staff lines fed him while preparing for his interview with Hur, the Journal reported.
At the White House, Biden also canceled key national security meetings, forcing aides to explain to attendees that the president had “bad days and good days.”
Scandalous examples of the White House cover-up include one involving Democratic Congressman Adam Smith.
In 2021, when Smith was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, he desperately tried to contact Biden ahead of the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan to share his serious concerns about the plan. His attempts were rebuffed.
When 13 U.S. service members and 170 Afghans were killed, Smith publicly criticized Biden and was reprimanded by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Biden eventually called Smith to apologize, which, despite his key role in Congress, was reportedly the only personal phone call Smith received in the president’s entire four-year term.
And staff worried about the comparison between President Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden, who is eight years his junior and had an energetic, packed schedule that only emphasized her husband’s gentler pace.
Close aides were also deeply concerned about comparisons between Biden and his wife Jill Biden, who is eight years his junior and had a busy schedule that only highlighted the president’s “plodding” pace and vulnerability, the Journal reported.
Even before Biden’s first day in the Oval Office in 2021, there were concerns that Jill’s “energy” made her husband “look bad.”
During his 2020 election campaign, Biden’s team tried to downplay how many events Jill hosted.
At the end of June this year, Biden’s decline was on full display as he debated Donald Trump.
Gaffes, fumbles and blank stares from the president filled the hour-and-a-half television event. It proved catastrophic for his campaign.
The confrontation with Trump ultimately led the public, and even senior Democrats in Washington, to call on Biden to end his bid for re-election.
A month after the debate, Biden threw in the towel and supported his Vice President Kamala Harris, who defeated Trump on November 5.
One person who witnessed what happened to Biden over the past four years told the Journal that a small group of aides stayed close to him at all times and provided intense “hand holding.”
Biden’s debate with Donald Trump in June was the reason the American public and Democratic politicians called for him to drop his re-election bid
Just a month after the debate, Biden ended his bid for the White House and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who handily defeated Trump on November 5.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates refuted the Wall Street Journal story that Biden has rejected.
Instead, Bates said he has “achieved the most accomplished record of any modern commander in chief and rebuilt the middle class because of his attention to policy details that impact millions of lives.”
Biden has been an undisciplined public speaker throughout his more than fifty-year political career.
He also had a childhood stutter that he often cites as causing him to stumble over his words.
Despite the efforts of aides, Biden is leaving office with members of his own party criticizing him for being “selfish.”
Many believe he was only looking out for himself by staying in the 2024 presidential race to the point where he was unfit to run for another term.
Others are outraged by his decision to pardon his son Hunter, 54, earlier this month after he was convicted in 2018 of lying on a federal form to purchase a gun.
Polls showed Biden’s approval rating hitting a record low as he prepared to leave office.