By A former senior official from the Biden administration has publicly criticized the White House for allegedly misrepresenting President Joe Biden’s electoral viability and disregarding mounting concerns about his age. In an interview with Puck News, Michael LaRosa, a longtime press secretary to former First Lady Jill Biden, accused the administration of “gaslighting” the public by dismissing polling data that indicated waning support for Biden, even among Democrats.
LaRosa contended that Biden’s inner circle refused to acknowledge troubling trends in voter sentiment. “There was a lot of denial of the polling,” he remarked. “Surveys conducted in both the spring and fall of 2023 consistently demonstrated a lack of deep support from within his own party, not to mention among independents and Republicans.”
Concerns regarding Biden’s age—already a persistent issue throughout his presidency—became more pronounced following his widely criticized performance in the June 2024 debate against Donald Trump. The debate sparked a surge of calls from within the Democratic Party urging Biden to step aside. In July, after Nancy Pelosi forced his hand, the then-sitting president ultimately withdrew from the race and endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who later lost the general election to Trump.
While acknowledging that Biden’s age had been a recognized vulnerability since the outset of his presidency, LaRosa rejected the notion that the administration had engaged in a deliberate cover-up. “Every politician, every human being, tries to obscure the effects of aging,” he stated, adding that campaign staff had been acutely aware of the issue as early as 2019.
LaRosa also painted a picture of a White House communications team that was excessively cautious, reluctant to allow Biden to engage in unscripted interactions. “The president’s team was terrified of impromptu, unscripted, unrehearsed, unchoreographed moments,” he said. “They couldn’t compete in the modern media landscape and had no strategy for navigating the attention economy.”
Following Biden’s withdrawal from the race, reports emerged suggesting that he had grown increasingly frail in his final months in office. According to LaRosa, while Biden himself remained willing to engage with the press, his advisors became increasingly distrustful—both of media coverage and of the president’s ability to perform effectively in public settings.
“Biden needed the press, but when he needed them the most, his aides didn’t trust him,” LaRosa explained. “Then the media intensified their scrutiny, and within a month, he was politically finished.”
Former White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently criticized Democratic leaders, including Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, for undermining President Joe Biden’s reelection bid, calling their actions a betrayal. Speaking at Harvard’s Kennedy School, she expressed shock at what she described as an unprecedented internal revolt that led to Biden’s withdrawal in July, after mounting pressure over concerns about his electability. Kamala Harris took over the nomination but lost to Donald Trump, with Republicans securing control of Congress.
Jean-Pierre described the aftermath of the election as heartbreaking and urged Democrats to challenge Trump. Meanwhile, Jill Biden also expressed feelings of personal betrayal, particularly regarding Pelosi. Despite Harris being the early frontrunner for 2028, Jean-Pierre declined to identify a clear party leader.
As Democrats reflect on the factors that contributed to their 2024 electoral defeat, LaRosa’s account underscores the internal discord that may have hastened Biden’s downfall and weakened the party’s position in the general election, something that neither side seems ready to forgive each other over.
[Read More: Biden Team Still Furious About 2024]
