President Biden's debate gaffes are ticking off some folks who work in the White House, because they've reportedly been kept away from him ... and now it's causing a divide among staffers.
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00:00Alex, why don't we start with what you learned about Joe Biden's day-to-day in the White
00:08House, and how many people were regularly around him to know exactly what his mental
00:15acuity was?
00:16In terms of public events, stuff that's in front of cameras and often in front of a lot
00:20of reporters, the vast majority of those events happen between the hours of 10 and 4.
00:28He almost will never do an event before 10 a.m.
00:31He usually wakes up around 7, 7.30, watches Morning Joe, exercises, sort of, takes his
00:38time.
00:39Later in the evening, he will do some events, but they're often not on camera.
00:43There are often a lot of corrections when he's making remarks late at night.
00:48I remember one time just last year where he talked about the Charlottesville story that
00:52got him in the race, and he repeated the same story almost word for word, twice, just
00:58a few minutes apart.
00:59There is a very, very tight inner circle around Joe Biden.
01:04On a day-to-day basis, he really only sees about 10 to 20 people, usually on a regular
01:10basis.
01:11Now, even within that circle, there's a smaller inner, inner circle, which is really only
01:15about six people.
01:17And they have taken steps to definitely restrict access to not just everyday White House officials,
01:23but even the residence staff of the White House.
01:26A residence official told me that there is an incredible divide between the Biden family
01:32and the residence staff.
01:33They often dismiss them to let them go home early.
01:36They don't really sometimes even let them up there.
01:38And they definitely keep them at huge arm's length.
01:42So this is why his debate performance became such a shock.
01:46But a lot of them now sort of feel angry, because they feel that they have been gaslit,
01:50too.
01:51Is there kind of a divide now within where people are saying, how could this group of
01:5712 or 20 or whatever that number is keep all of this from us when now we're in crisis?
02:04Yes, absolutely.
02:05I mean, I would say the reactions range from demoralized, wondering what they're going
02:12to do with their future to full out panic.
02:16One person in the White House told me recently that everyone is freaking the F out.
02:21There's a deep lack of satisfaction among a lot of parts.
02:25Now, there are some parts of the Biden team that are basically just like, this is a bunch
02:28of you about nothing.
02:29It was one bad day.
02:31People have counted us out before.
02:33And so that isn't I think it just exacerbates this thing where there is a divide, because
02:38people at the top sometimes don't realize the level of dissatisfaction below them.