The mask is slipping on how the Biden White House handled the press—and it’s not a pretty picture.
Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to First Lady Jill Biden, is now sounding the alarm about what he calls a campaign of media manipulation and “bullying” that stretched from the 2020 election all the way through President Biden’s chaotic term.
“They bullied a lot of journalists,” LaRosa said in a bombshell interview with progressive host Cenk Uygur on Tuesday. “They were hostile, paranoid—and yes, unethical.”
“Quote Approval” and Controlled Interviews
According to LaRosa, Biden’s press team operated like a gatekeeping machine, insisting that journalists submit their interview quotes for approval before publication. One staffer would be assigned to each reporter to dictate which quotes could or couldn’t be used—essentially scripting the president’s media presence from behind closed doors.
“There was this thing in Biden world about quote approval. Everything had to be on quote approval,” LaRosa explained. “They’d decide what reporters could publish after an interview. That’s not journalism. That’s PR control on steroids.”
Training Staff to Script the Press
LaRosa didn’t hold back in describing how young staffers on the Biden campaign were “dog trained” to shape the narrative—even down to scripting questions for reporters in advance.
“You saw them get caught trying to script questions to radio reporters in summer 2024,” he said. “It reminded me of 2020 all over again. These kids in New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada—they were trained to make questions conditional for interviews.”
Inside the Biden Bunker
The culture under Biden’s top advisor Anita Dunn, LaRosa claims, was one of extreme suspicion and isolation.
“They acted like they were working out of a bunker,” he said. “Always on edge. Always trying to silence the bad press instead of addressing it.”
Even more baffling to LaRosa was why the Biden team felt this was necessary at all—especially when Biden enjoyed a honeymoon period with most of the mainstream press after Trump left office.
“I never understood it,” he said. “There was so much goodwill toward Joe Biden coming off of Donald Trump. Why trash the press, the polls, the journalists?”
Internal Conflict Over Ethics
LaRosa drew a clear line between his own standards and those of “the boys side”—his term for the president’s inner press team.
“I told my team, never ask a journalist for the questions in advance. You can ask about topics, but don’t touch the questions,” he said. “That’s journalism 101. It’s unethical.”
As a former NBC producer, LaRosa said he understood the damage this kind of press manipulation could cause—and made it clear he didn’t want Jill Biden associated with those tactics.
Fallout That Backfired
Rather than boosting Biden’s image, LaRosa said the press team’s aggressive tactics backfired—especially as the president’s mental state came under increasing scrutiny.
“They tried to muzzle anyone who talked about his age or cognitive decline,” LaRosa said. “But every poll showed it was a problem. Not one—every poll.”
The tipping point came during the disastrous June 27 debate against Donald Trump. Viewers watched live as Biden stumbled, lost his train of thought, and confirmed what many had suspected for months: the president wasn’t all there.
“That debate exposed everything,” one White House reporter told Fox News Digital. “And it wasn’t because of bad luck—it was because his team spent years hiding him.”
A President Shielded from Reality
Behind the scenes, Biden’s handlers reportedly did everything they could to keep tough questions away from him—even using teleprompters at intimate fundraisers, according to The New York Times. Some donors were reportedly alarmed.
“They did a really good job of hiding him,” the reporter said. “It wasn’t just about protecting him—it was about controlling the narrative at any cost.”
The Damage Done
LaRosa now believes those years of controlling the message only deepened Biden’s public trust issues and worsened his media image.
“His approval numbers never got better. There was no wave of good press,” he said. “They burned bridges with reporters he actually liked. And in the end, it didn’t help him—it hurt him.”
A White House in Denial
Predictably, a former White House official pushed back on LaRosa’s account.
“He gets a lot wrong,” the official told Fox News Digital. “He wasn’t really part of the core group. The West Wing mostly dealt with his boss.”
Still, no formal response has been issued from Biden’s team. As of now, the silence speaks volumes.
The Legacy of Control
In the wake of Biden’s decision not to seek reelection, insiders like LaRosa are peeling back the curtain. What’s being revealed is a presidency built on fear, media control, and a desperate effort to shield the public from uncomfortable truths.
Whether the American people will forget—or forgive—remains to be seen.
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I believe the word is TREASON.This gang of demokrap criminals, put our country in danger, in jeopardy and nothing has been done about it. How about our esteemed Congress, questioning and investigating the last administration. Of course it wonât happen, is a demokratik thing and we all know, what that means.
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So very, very true. Remember during the G20 meeting when China Joe wandered away from the group of dignitaries and it took the Italian Prime Minister to go get him and bring him back to the group. The press played that down and made it seem that he was looking for someone. I just wish we had in the past one great POTUS like TR or Eisenhower or even Reagan. But we have only had gilded politicos with pot metal mentality.