Some White House aides were shocked at President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance on Thursday because his close aides have effectively shielded him from them since the beginning of the presidency, according to a report.

The Axios report said, “Biden’s behavior stunned many in the White House in part because Biden’s closest aides — often led by Jill Biden’s top aide, Anthony Bernal, and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini — took steps early in his term to essentially rope off the president.”

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“Even the White House’s residence staff, which serves the first family in the mansion’s living quarters, has been kept at arm’s length. A former residence official told Axios that Jill Biden was ‘so protective of the president, and then Anthony just protects her, and they often wouldn’t let us do anything for them,'” the report said.

“The separation between the family and the residence staff was so big, so divided,” the former official told the outlet. “It’s not supposed to be and usually isn’t, even in the Trump White House.”

According to the report, Bernal and Tomasini and other close aides had “easy access” to the Biden residence area of the White House, which some residence White House staff found unusual, and showed the tightness of the circle around Biden.

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A former residence official told Axios about an incident during a White House celebration on July 4, 2021, when after spending hours in the heat, Biden went inside the White House and the door was “abruptly shut as Biden’s aides blocked the White House butlers and residence staff from aiding him.”

His aides told the staffers the president was “just a little overheated,” but the former official said it left the residence staff feeling like his close aides were creating a barrier around anything related to his health.

The former deputy White House director of photography, Chandler West, appeared to criticize Biden’s inner circle in an Instagram post after the debate, according to Axios.

“It’s time for Joe to go,” West wrote. “I know many of these people and how the White House operates. They will say he has a ‘cold’ or just experienced a ‘bad night,’ but for weeks and months, in private, they have all said what we saw last night — Joe is not as strong as he was just a couple of years ago.”

Reached by phone, West told Axios he wrote that because “the debate was not the first bad day, and it’s not gonna be the last.”

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates dismissed the allegation that Biden had been shielded by his closest aides from others.

“In every administration, there are individuals who would prefer to spend more time with the President and senior officials,” he told Axios.

“President Biden fights hard for families every day, working with a wide range of team members at what he is proud is the most diverse White House ever — and achieving historic results for the American people because of his determination, values, and experience,” he added.

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