A former White House staffer has claimed that Joe Biden’s communications team employed what he characterized as “really unethical” strategies to control media narratives. These tactics included requiring pre-approved questions and exerting strict control over which quotes journalists could use after interviews with the former president.
Michael LaRosa, who was the press secretary for former First Lady Jill Biden, told “The Young Turks” host Cenk Uygur that Biden’s administration frequently “bullied” journalists to present the former president in a more positive manner.
“They did bully a lot of journalists, and I think they would tell you that now. They wouldn’t have told you at the time,” LaRosa said during the interview.
He explained that Biden’s communications team, led by Anita Dunn, operated with a defensive mindset, treating media engagements as if they were “out of a bunker” and maintaining a consistently adversarial stance with the press corps.
LaRosa expressed uncertainty about the administration’s antagonistic approach, pointing out that Biden had initially received substantial media goodwill following the Trump presidency. He suggested that the Biden team did not leverage this favorable starting point, instead harming what could have been a constructive relationship with the media.
According to LaRosa, these questionable media management tactics were present during Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and continued throughout his presidency. A particularly concerning practice involved what LaRosa called “quote approval,” where a designated team member dictated “what the reporter can use, what quotes they can use” after any interview with the president.
The former press aide described how junior staffers were systematically trained to manage media interactions, including instructing reporters on permissible questions and requiring journalists to submit their questions in advance of interviews.
LaRosa referenced an incident from the summer of 2024 when Biden staffers were found attempting to provide pre-written questions to radio journalists. He compared this to similar tactics he observed during the 2020 campaign, when junior press team members in early primary states such as New Hampshire, Iowa, and Nevada were systematically conditioned to impose restrictions on interview questions, establishing preconditions for media access.
LaRosa stated that he refused to engage in these practices while managing the press for former First Lady Jill Biden, drawing on his background as a former producer at NBC News.
The former White House staffer recalled advising his colleagues to avoid requesting specific questions from journalists before interviews with the former first lady. He mentioned that discussing general topics beforehand was acceptable, but soliciting the actual questions was inappropriate. He emphasized his discomfort with the tactics employed by what he described as “the boys team” responsible for managing the former president’s media interactions.
He characterized demanding advance questions as unethical, noting that junior staffers were systematically trained to incorporate this questionable approach into their preliminary interview screening process.
His revelations mark the first time someone inside the Biden White House has confirmed these media management practices, which had been rumored but not previously verified by administration insiders.
While these tactics were intended to help manage the narrative around Biden and present him in the most favorable light possible, LaRosa argued that they ultimately backfired, particularly after Biden’s widely criticized debate performance against Trump on June 27, 2024, which highlighted concerns about the former president’s mental acuity.
LaRosa reflected that over his four-year tenure, particularly during the summer of 2024, he recognized the administration’s media relations team’s fundamentally flawed instincts and how their approach ultimately undermined the former president’s interests.
He maintained that their combative and restrictive strategy toward the press corps produced the opposite of its intended effect, actively harming Biden’s public standing rather than enhancing it. According to LaRosa, despite the aggressive and punitive tactics employed against journalists covering the former president, Biden’s media coverage consistently deteriorated instead of improving.
The former press secretary asserted that this approach did not benefit the administration, as the former president’s reputation, public image, trustworthiness ratings, and approval numbers remained stagnant or declined throughout his term, with no periods of positive media coverage materializing. LaRosa attributed part of this failure to the fact that the administration had “burnt and just carpet bombed his relationships with members of the press who he cared about,” reported the New York Post.
The White House’s media controls reportedly extended beyond press interactions with the president. According to a separate media report, cabinet officials’ questions for Biden during rare meetings were also screened in advance, with aides “going over questions and carefully choreographing” the interactions.
These revelations come amid broader concerns about Biden’s cognitive state during his presidency. The New York Post recently reported that dozens of executive orders bearing Biden’s signature appeared to have been signed using an autopen device, raising questions about whether the former president was fully aware of the documents he was approving.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has called for an investigation into whether Biden’s cognitive decline may have allowed unelected staff to implement policies without his complete understanding or approval.
LaRosa’s comments reflect a growing pattern of former Biden administration officials speaking out about internal practices following the end of his presidency. Earlier this year, Politico reported on friction between former White House aides and current staffers who had been more willing to voice disagreements with administration policies, sometimes anonymously, pointing to a generational divide in approaches to loyalty within the executive branch.
The Biden administration had previously faced criticism regarding ethical practices, particularly surrounding nepotism in hiring. In 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki defended the administration as having the “highest ethical standards” despite concerns about family members of senior Biden aides being hired for government positions.
