Jill Biden secretly wielded enormous power during her husband's presidency, using a personal enforcer to bully critics within the administration, according to a new book.
The former First Lady and her top aide, Anthony Bernal, were among the most influential people steering the ship during Biden's four years, according to Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.
Original Sin has faced intense criticism over the perceived hypocrisy of the book's authors, especially Tapper, who previously defended Biden as conservatives questioned his cognitive functioning.
The book paints the cover-up of Biden's decline as a closely kept conspiracy, singling out Bernal, a Jill Biden ally, as one of the family's key protectors.
"He considered loyalty to be the defining virtue and would wield that word to elevate some and oust others – at times fairly and at times not. ‘Are you a Biden person?' he would ask West Wing aides. ‘Is so-and-so a Biden person?’ The regular interrogations led some colleagues to dub him the leader of the ‘loyalty police,’" the journalists wrote in Original Sin.
According to the book, Biden's aides resented the influence that Bernal had on account of his connections to the First Lady, who was recognized by insiders as one of the most powerful First Ladies in the nation's history.
"As Jill's power rose, so did Bernal's," the book says. "Biden aides would say that she was one of the most powerful first ladies in history, and as a result, he became one of the most influential people in the White House."
The book's authors struggled to find anyone in the administration who liked Bernal, with some calling him one of "the worst person they had ever met."
"He would not be welcome at my funeral," a longtime Biden aide told the authors.
Bernal and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini were reportedly inseparable throughout Biden's term, with insiders comparing them to a brother and sister. They managed to insinuate themselves into Biden's inner circle in 2020 as his campaign took advantage of the COVID pandemic to hide him away from the public, according to the book.
Meanwhile, Jill and Bernal maintained a mutually reinforcing relationship. The pair collaborated to keep track of "who was with them and against them," as Bernal endeavored to promote Jill's "profile and glamor." The two were so close that Bernal felt comfortable criticizing the First Lady's looks.
Original Sin's sensational claims follow years of speculation - confined to right-wing media, and mostly dismissed by liberal mainstream outlets, until now - that Joe Biden was under the control of secret handlers including his own wife. To many, the "bombshells" in this book are far from shocking, even if they do provide some details about the conspiracy that many could see unfolding in plain sight.
Also, while there are certainly nuggets of truth in Original Sin, the book's narrative is spun in a way that seems all too convenient for the White House insiders - and liberal journalists like Tapper - who aided in the cover-up themselves. After all, blaming a small circle of relentless Biden loyalists allows them to say that they were victims, too - when, as everyone knows, they share responsibility for perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in American history.
