After Thursday’s disastrous CNN debate, President Joe Biden and the First Woman Jill tried to get forward of the inevitable backlash, glossing over the debacle with a flurry of soft-ball publicity appearances.
A fast cease off at a debate viewing get together held by ardent Biden-loyalists was adopted by a midnight go to to an Atlanta Waffle Home.
Because the President – nonetheless wanting surprised after his televised humiliation – greeted fellow diners who awkwardly remained seated, Jill swept as much as the counter and giggled: ‘Order for Biden.’
However, for all her slick makes an attempt to paper over the cracks, what occurred subsequent appeared extremely revealing of her behind-the-scenes panic.
One of many reporters who had made their means into the Waffle Home alongside TV crews requested the President how he thought he’d carried out within the debate with Donald Trump.
Anthony Bernal, 51, (heart within the beige swimsuit) is Jill Biden’s ‘work husband’ and accompanied the couple on their late evening go to submit Thursday’s disastrous debate to Waffle Home.
Bernal has labored with the Bidens since 2008 and is understood for his unfaltering loyalty.
‘I feel we did properly,’ Biden stated, earlier than straining a smile as he was hammered with follow-up questions on ‘issues’ over his competency.
Then got here the blink-and-you-miss-it second: Simply behind Biden, however nonetheless in digital camera shot, Jill glanced throughout to an in any other case unassuming man, with thinning hair and in a beige swimsuit jacket, who in flip raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes, wanting alarmed.
A silent however maybe telling interplay – for this man was Anthony Bernal, Jill’s ever-present and most senior adviser.
Behind White Home partitions, Jill refers to Bernal, 51, as her ‘work husband’, with the pair hardly ever seen aside.
‘Bernal is probably the most highly effective particular person within the East Wing [the First Lady’s White House quarters], he has dominion over all the things that occurs in it, from journeys and scheduling to speeches and messaging… he is on senior calls every single day,’ Jill’s biographer Katie Rogers says.
Crucially, Bernal helps ‘blueprint’ and orchestrate ‘how the president appears to be like when [the public] see him, not simply the primary girl’, Rogers added.
And so, as strain now mounts on Jill – who Biden insiders describe as ‘the one particular person’ who might persuade the ailing president to not run in 2024 – and accusations swirl concerning the stage of her affect contained in the Oval Workplace, Bernal’s function has additionally come beneath elevated scrutiny.
On Sunday, the Bidens escaped for a post-debate debrief and a reportedly pre-planned photoshoot with superstar photographer Annie Leibovitz at Camp David.
And it was from these cozy presidential log cabins that Jill made a cellphone name to Vogue journal, offering a last-minute replace to her cowl interview, due out Monday.
‘[We] is not going to let these 90 minutes outline the 4 years [Joe’s] been president. We are going to proceed to battle,’ Jill insisted to Vogue.
Within the closing paragraphs of the prolonged journal profile, Bernal seems – quoted on the file.
‘Her household means all the things to her,’ he purrs. ‘At her core, she’s a personal particular person.’
And no one is extra ready to assist Jill conceal her personal struggles than Bernal.
‘He’s recognized to be type of very overbearing. He may be aggressive… [he] makes life hell for junior [White House] aides,’ biographer Rogers says.
At public occasions, in conferences, and even on household holidays, Bernal is a everlasting fixture within the Biden furnishings. Nothing, it appears, passes with out his approval.
‘He has an unmatched skill to affect issues within the president’s crew,’ one former co-worker informed the New York Put up in March.
Bernal met Hunter Biden and his spouse Melissa after Hunter was discovered responsible in his gun trial final month.
He rushed to Hunter at a Delaware airfield, kissing him on the cheek and hugging him, earlier than turning to Melissa and doing the identical.
It was Bernal who met Hunter Biden and his spouse Melissa after Hunter was discovered responsible in his gun trial final month.
Dashing to Hunter at a Delaware airfield, Bernal kissed him on the cheek and hugged him, earlier than turning to Melissa and doing the identical.
It was Bernal who personally ferried Jill and the president from Atlanta’s CNN studio after Thursday’s debate, to the watch-party and that ‘spontaneous’ Waffle Home go to.
And it’s Bernal who’s now firmly by Jill’s aspect, as she and a choose circle of advisers – together with Hunter – counsel the President to not cave to rising requires his resignation from inside the Democrat get together.
‘No order is beneath Bernal,’ Rogers says. ‘He wrangles the canine, carts the White Home cat round in her cage, and makes positive that the assorted Biden youngsters and grandchildren are transported to the suitable weekend retreats.’
However it’s this closeness to the Bidens, and his undoubted loyalty, that has led to fears Bernal is afforded particular protections.
In March, a significant investigation by the New York Put up spoke to virtually a dozen present and former White Home staffers who accused Bernal of bullying and verbal sexual harassment.
Allegations embody Bernal ‘usually’ speculating concerning the endowments of fellow political aides and even Secret Service brokers.
It’s Bernal who’s firmly by Jill’s aspect, as she counsels the President to not cave to rising requires his resignation from inside the Democrat get together.
It’s this closeness to the Bidens, and his loyalty, that has led to claims Bernal is afforded particular protections.
He has allegedly accused colleagues of getting ‘small penises’ throughout arguments, and on one event remarked on a staffer’s ‘bulge in his khakis.’
‘It was lots of inappropriate remarks – speaking about different individuals’s attractiveness and speculating about their intercourse lives at very bizarre moments,’ one other supply claimed.
Others allege that Bernal – who’s himself homosexual – speculates aloud at work on the sexuality of different employees.
‘I’ve heard him say inappropriate issues about individuals’s sexuality,’ an insider who labored with Bernal informed The Put up. ‘I heard him ask if individuals are homosexual on a regular basis… I might consider a couple of occasion the place he pontificated on whether or not somebody was homosexual or not or stated, ‘They’re undoubtedly homosexual’.’
‘It’s Me Too — traditional Me Too,’ one other supply claimed.
Bernal – who has labored for Jill all through the Biden presidency, and beforehand held roles working for the household when Joe was Vice President to Barack Obama – denies all allegations towards him.
In an announcement to DailyMail.com he described the claims as ‘false’ and ‘baseless’ and ‘nothing greater than gay-hate and racism’, including: ‘I conduct my private {and professional} interactions with integrity, compassion, and care.’
When the Put up revealed their investigation in March, White Home Chief of Employees Jeff Zients stated in an announcement to the newspaper: ‘The president and first girl have full confidence in Anthony’s character, as do I. It’s disappointing that he’s the goal of unfounded assaults from unnamed sources.’
Exterior of labor, Bernal is extremely protecting of his privateness.
Bernal has allegedly accused colleagues of getting ‘small penises’ throughout arguments, and on one event remarked on a staffer’s ‘bulge in his khakis’. Bernal denies all the allegations towards him.
He went to highschool in Tucson, Arizona, graduating in 1991, earlier than learning historical past and philosophy on the College of Texas.
He took junior roles beneath President Invoice Clinton and Vice President Al Gore earlier than beginning work with the Bidens in 2008, when he joined the Obama marketing campaign as a part of Jill’s employees.
He rapidly established himself as a key help determine – a job he cemented following the loss of life of the Bidens’ 46-year-old son Beau from mind most cancers in 2015.
‘A part of that relationship is completely solidified due to how he was in a position to hold issues quiet, hold their privateness intact [after Beau’s death],’ Rogers says. ‘Someone informed me that he would stroll in entrance of a dashing practice for [Jill].’
Such fierce loyalty has earned Bernal appreciable affect, over each the primary girl and the president.
In order issues mount about Joe Biden’s health to serve and run for re-election in November, the extent of Bernal’s function within the White Home’s obstinate refusal to countenance criticism should absolutely be questioned.
