Jill and Hunter Biden are taking charge behind the scenes at the White House, urging President Joe Biden to fire staff they believe failed to help him and to continue fighting as the Democratic nominee.
Meanwhile, the president’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens, who has served as Biden’s “handler” and closest adviser, is headed to the White House for the Fourth of July celebrations, where she will have face-to-face meetings about her brother’s reelection campaign.
The trio’s endorsement of the president comes amid reports that he has told allies he is considering dropping out of the race. The White House denies this and says Biden is in it to win. Biden and his team are working frantically to shore up support among party members, lawmakers, governors and donors to assure them he can beat Donald Trump in November.
Jill, Hunter and Valerie are the three most important people in any decision Joe Biden makes about his future.
He is the one who listens to them the most. They would need to give them his blessing to drop out of the presidential race. But a new report from NBC News reveals how the trio are campaigning to support Biden staying in the race.
Jill and Hunter Biden, with Hunter Biden’s wife Melissa Cohen (right), leave Hunter’s gun trial in Wilmington, Delaware.
Jill Biden was on the road this week, touring events in Pennsylvania and Michigan to promote the president’s record in the White House.
But Hunter was at his father’s side, walking behind him at an East Room ceremony for Medal of Honor recipients and reportedly participating in meetings in the West Wing.
The whole family will be at the White House to celebrate the 4th of July.
This is the second time in five days that they will be together.
The Biden clan gathered at Camp David over the weekend for a pre-planned photo shoot with famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. But the main topic of conversation was Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump.
Among the conversations was whether to fire White House senior adviser Anita Dunn and her husband, Bob Bauer, who is Biden’s personal lawyer. Family members are angry that Biden was given a slew of statistics to spout off at the debate instead of being allowed to show his natural empathy.
Dunn helped Biden prepare for the debate and Bauer portrayed Trump in mock debates.
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients denied there were any discussions about firing Dunn or Bauer.
“The president and first lady have complete confidence in their team, including Anita and Bob,” he told NBC News. “There is absolutely no truth to these baseless and insulting rumors.”
Valerie Biden Owens (left) ran Joe Biden’s first Senate campaign and has been involved in every campaign since; Joe Biden and Valerie Biden hug after lunch in Wilmington, Delaware, in February (right)
Valerie Biden Owens, 78, the president’s younger sister, has long been one of his top political advisers. She ran his first Senate campaign in 1972 and has been deeply involved in all of his campaigns since, including his presidential bids.
She also became a surrogate mother to Hunter and Beau after Biden’s first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, and their 1-year-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident in 1972, shortly after Biden won his first race for the U.S. Senate.
She moved into her brother’s house to care for the children while Biden commuted by Amtrak to Washington DC.
The Biden family has grown closer and closer in recent months as the presidential race has heated up and Hunter Biden has been on trial on federal gun charges.
The president’s son was found guilty of three felonies. Jill Biden and Valerie Biden Owens were in the courtroom almost every day to support him.
Hunter’s family believes he is being prosecuted solely because Joe Biden is president. Even some Republicans questioned why prosecutors were pursuing him on charges that he lied on a form when he bought a gun. Hunter Biden was in the throes of a drug addiction at the time.
The first lady pointed out those attacks against Hunter when the family spoke at Camp David this weekend, NBC News reported.
She pointed to everything the family has endured since Biden decided to run for president to make clear that now is the time to fight, two people familiar with the conversations told the network.
He noted that Hunter could go to jail for this.
Anita Dunn, senior adviser to the president, with Joe Biden at Camp David
Bob Bauer, Dunn’s husband, is Biden’s personal attorney
President Joe Biden, from left, First Lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden and Melissa Cohen Biden after returning from Camp David
There’s another reason the Bidens are holding firm. The family, particularly Jill Biden, remembers how Joe Biden was forced to drop out of the 1988 presidential race following a plagiarism scandal.
“In 1987, she watched as the press, the pundits and the polls forced him to resign, and it was a really traumatic experience for both of them,” said Michael LaRosa, a former press secretary to the first lady. New York Times.
He said he had discussed the 1988 episode several times with the first lady when he worked for her.
“I think they learned from that experience and weren’t going to allow themselves to be forced into doing something like they did in 1987.”
