Former Biden Aide Accuses White House of "Gaslighting" Public on President’s Age and Cognition

A former official from President Biden’s White House is alleging that his former colleagues deliberately "gaslighted" the American public and members of the media who expressed concerns about the President’s age and cognitive abilities. Michael LaRosa, who served as press secretary for former First Lady Jill Biden, made these claims during a seminar held at the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics at American University, hosted by Puck reporter Tara Palmeri.

LaRosa detailed what he described as a concerted effort by the White House to shield President Biden from potentially damaging media exposure. His remarks come amidst widespread scrutiny of President Biden’s age and mental acuity, a narrative fueled by incidents like the Special Counsel Robert Hur report, which characterized the President as "well-meaning but forgetful," viral videos portraying him as confused, and a Wall Street Journal report highlighting his alleged struggles behind closed doors.

While LaRosa stopped short of labeling the White House’s actions a "cover-up," he admitted that the administration was keenly aware of the President’s age as a potential liability from "day one." He further revealed that his former colleagues actively downplayed and dismissed polling data that indicated a stagnation in President Biden’s poll numbers leading up to the 2024 election.

Despite consistent polling data suggesting that a majority of Americans believed President Biden was too old to effectively serve a second term, LaRosa claimed that many journalists treated questions about the President’s health as if they were right-wing conspiracy theories. This issue reached a critical point following President Biden’s widely criticized performance during a June debate, which subsequently led to increased pressure on him to withdraw from the race.

"There are some things that are true. I mean, like the gaslighting, there was a lot of denial of the polling. And I will use the term ‘gaslight’ because that’s what they were doing – the campaign, former colleagues," LaRosa told Palmeri, emphasizing the concerted effort to manipulate public perception.

He further elaborated on the White House’s strategy: "The message to everybody was to make sure that you tell people it’s too early. It’s too early. These polls don’t mean well; it became ‘too early,’ and these polls don’t mean anything." LaRosa highlighted the hypocrisy of the White House, noting that data that was previously touted when President Biden held a lead was suddenly deemed inconsequential when his numbers began to decline.

LaRosa also criticized the White House’s aggressive response to news outlets, including left-leaning publications like The New York Times, which began to address polling and age-related issues in mid-2024. He pointed out that reports from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and other media outlets had revealed concerns among some of the President’s closest advisors regarding his health since the early days of his administration. The White House consistently dismissed questions about President Biden’s abilities, often labeling videos that appeared to show him confused or disoriented as "cheap fakes."

"I think if you were watching MSNBC, you probably believed [the White House] and were probably pretty shocked. But if you were consuming information, consuming data and looking at it objectively and trying to interpret it and process it objectively, then none of it was surprising," LaRosa said, suggesting that viewers relying on certain news sources may have been shielded from the full extent of the concerns surrounding President Biden’s age and health.

Adding another layer to his accusations, LaRosa claimed that President Biden’s team was "scared to death" of allowing the President to participate in impromptu, unrehearsed press conferences. He told Palmeri that President Biden simply "couldn’t compete for the attention economy" under such circumstances.

"They just couldn’t do it. They didn’t have any idea. And they didn’t have the vessel either in Biden, by the way, who would have done anything. He loves TV. He loves doing stuff. It was the orbit that did not trust their own candidate," LaRosa asserted, suggesting that the President himself was willing and eager to engage with the media, but that his staff actively prevented him from doing so due to concerns about his performance.

LaRosa’s comments add fuel to the ongoing debate about President Biden’s fitness for office. The revelations, if true, paint a picture of a White House actively engaged in shaping a narrative that contradicted the concerns and observations of a large segment of the population. The accusations of "gaslighting" are particularly potent, implying a deliberate effort to mislead the public and media about the President’s true condition.

These allegations will likely intensify scrutiny of President Biden’s public appearances and interactions, as well as raise further questions about the role of the media in reporting on his age and health. The claims also underscore the delicate balance between protecting a political figure and providing transparent and accurate information to the public.