The scandals of the Biden tenure are coming out. They’re so much worse than anyone thought.
And now a close advisor to Joe Biden himself has decided to come clean in a tell-all confession.
Biden-Harris Admin Official Admits To Lying To The American People
A former top staffer in the Biden White House recently expressed his frustration with how the Biden-Harris administration managed concerns over President Joe Biden’s age and polling numbers, particularly in light of his 2024 reelection bid. Michael LaRosa, who served as a long-time press secretary to former First Lady Jill Biden, spoke candidly to Puck News on Wednesday, accusing the administration of “gaslighting” Americans by dismissing valid concerns about the president’s declining support within his own party.
LaRosa, who was deeply involved in Biden’s public communications, revealed that the Biden team was also “scared to death” of the president participating in unscripted, unrehearsed interviews, an issue that, according to him, was directly linked to Biden’s age. Despite many Americans, including some prominent Democrats, raising questions about Biden’s cognitive fitness, the White House consistently denied these concerns. LaRosa’s comments provide an insider’s perspective on the behind-the-scenes issues that may have contributed to the president’s struggle to connect with voters as he sought reelection.
“The president’s team was scared to death of impromptu, unscripted, unrehearsed, unpracticed, unchoreographed anything,” LaRosa explained. “They couldn’t compete in the attention economy. They didn’t have any idea how. And they didn’t have the vessel in Biden, who would have done anything. He loves TV. He loves doing stuff. It was the orbit that didn’t trust the candidate.”
LaRosa’s remarks paint a picture of an administration that, while handling the pressures of running for office, was cautious about exposing Biden to the media in a way that might further highlight concerns over his age. His comments seem to suggest a lack of confidence within the team, despite Biden’s personal enthusiasm for engaging with the public.
However, LaRosa was quick to defend Biden, asserting that concerns about age are not unique to him. “Every politician, every human being, tries to cover up their age,” LaRosa said. “Calling it a cover-up is a little harsh and exaggerated. We all wear makeup on TV. So we were always, from day one, cognizant that age was an issue. From the moment I joined the campaign in the fall of 2019, it was a problem.”
Despite LaRosa’s defense, the reality of the situation was clear. As Biden’s campaign progressed toward the 2024 election, a growing number of voters expressed doubts about his ability to effectively serve another term. These concerns intensified following a disastrous performance by Biden in the June 2024 presidential debate against former President Donald Trump. This debate was a turning point for many Democrats, with the list of voices urging Biden to reconsider his bid for reelection growing by the day. Several prominent media figures also withdrew their support for the incumbent president, further escalating the pressure on his campaign.
LaRosa offered a stark assessment of Biden’s situation after the debate. “Biden needed the press, but when he needed the press the most, they didn’t trust him. And then the press put their foot on the gas and never took it off, and he was politically dead in a month,” he said. This assessment highlights the media’s role in shaping public perception, especially as the election campaign entered its final stretch.
3⃣ Trump destroys the political future of Joe Biden at the debate.
After declaring videos of a clearly cognitively-declined Joe Biden were “cheap fakes,” Democrats sent Biden into political combat with Trump as a stress-test.
It didn’t go well for Joe Biden.
Since the debate… pic.twitter.com/a2NCg5f6ma
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) November 8, 2024
By July 2024, just one month after the debate, Biden made the decision to step down from the race, officially ending his reelection bid. He later endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the leader of the Democratic ticket moving forward. This shift marked a dramatic conclusion to what had been an increasingly fraught campaign.
In his interview with Puck News, LaRosa was also critical of the administration’s response to polling data showing Biden’s lack of strong support, particularly within his own party. “There are some things that are true, like the gaslighting,” he admitted. “There was a lot of denial of the polling. All of the polling in the spring of 2023, and then the fall of 2023, showed that there was no real depth of support from his own party, let alone independents and Republicans. And Biden had been tied, or within the margin of error, with Trump—who had, by that point, how many court hearings? How many indictments? The fact that he was so close was always a problem, but they were kind of in denial.”
As the 2024 election cycle unfolded, polling consistently pointed to Biden’s vulnerabilities, particularly among key demographic groups within his base. Despite the overwhelming support of his party in his initial presidential bid, Biden’s struggle to rally the same level of enthusiasm heading into a second term raised alarm bells.
Tom Barrett, Joe Biden's former ambassador to Luxembourg, says a full year before the 2024 election European leaders had concerns about Biden's health and ability to lead: pic.twitter.com/tB28LgwL02
— Christian Schneider (@Schneider_CM) February 26, 2025
CNN’s Jake Tapper Faces Backlash Over Book on Biden’s Health Decline, Amid Allegations of Hypocrisy
Jake Tapper, CNN’s prominent anchor, is facing considerable criticism for his recently announced book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. Co-authored with CNN contributor Alex Thompson, the book delves into what Tapper and Thompson describe as President Joe Biden’s “serious decline” and the cover-up surrounding it. The release is set for May, according to Penguin Press, who announced the book on Wednesday morning.
However, the announcement has sparked immediate backlash from critics, many of whom are accusing Tapper and CNN of hypocrisy. As the network has long been criticized for its favorable coverage of Biden, several onlookers argue that Tapper and his employer have contributed to the very “cover-up” they now criticize in the book.
Commenters on CNN’s own social media post about the book release were quick to express their frustration, with some accusing the network of being “complicit in the fraud.” Others took aim at Tapper himself, mocking him for what they perceive as a transparent attempt to deflect attention from his role in the media’s handling of Biden’s health. Some detractors pointed out the contradiction between the subject matter of the book and the network’s previous coverage, which has been described by some as overly protective of the president.
The controversy around Tapper’s book comes on the heels of his prominent role in moderating the June 2024 debate that led to Biden’s decision to step aside from the race. Tapper had also moderated a 2020 debate between Biden and then-President Donald Trump. In both cases, Tapper’s handling of the debates has been scrutinized, with some accusing him of not holding Biden to account, particularly in moments when the president appeared to struggle with coherent answers.
In a statement released alongside the book’s announcement, Tapper, 55, invoked a quote from Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison to justify the book’s creation. He cited Morrison’s words: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” Tapper elaborated, saying, “That’s what inspired this book. We wanted to know more about what we all just lived through.”
Despite the earnestness of his explanation, the timing of the book’s release and Tapper’s involvement in moderating key political events have left many questioning whether the book is truly an objective exploration or a deflection from criticisms surrounding his network’s coverage of Biden.
This wave of criticism is compounded by the speculation over Biden’s fitness for re-election. Some have argued that CNN, by publishing Tapper’s book, is attempting to distance itself from its previous coverage and address the growing concerns about Biden’s physical and mental well-being. Others have noted the irony in Tapper’s sudden willingness to confront these issues when his network has long been accused of downplaying them.
One of the flashpoints for criticism came during a segment of the June 2024 debate when Tapper appeared to cut Biden off after the president gave a rambling, nonsensical answer. The moment sparked accusations that Tapper was being overly lenient on the president, particularly given the public concern over Biden’s cognitive state. Critics of CNN and Tapper point to this and other instances as evidence of the network’s failure to hold Biden accountable for his public lapses.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
