First Lady Jill Biden is seen by President Biden’s aides as one of the most powerful first ladies in modern history, according to “Original Sin,” the new book by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson.
That influence extended to her top aide, Anthony Bernal, who, according to the authors, became one of the most powerful figures inside the White House. Tapper and Thompson describe Bernal’s elevated role as part of a broader narrative about President Biden’s cognitive decline and the administration’s alleged efforts to conceal it.
But that influence came at a price, according to the authors. “He would not be welcome at my funeral,” a longtime Biden aide told the writers.
In a White House where loyalty was the currency of power, Anthony Bernal used it as a weapon to root out dissenters, according to Tapper and Thompson.
“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 their book.
During the pandemic, then-candidate Biden opted to remain largely hidden rather than hitting the campaign trail. During that time, two Biden aides — Bernal and Annie Tomasini — managed to burrow into the future first couple’s orbit, which shifted the power paradigm of Joe Biden’s so-called “Politburo,” which the authors described as a group of insiders who likely ran much of his presidency.
Tapper and Thompson describe Bernal and Tomasini as “intensely loyal,” forming what they call an “older-brother-and-little-sister” dynamic. Notably, Tomasini held the title of deputy campaign manager—an unusual position for someone primarily seen as a staffer to the candidate’s spouse.
The pair also orchestrated a now-infamous moment during the campaign: loading a teleprompter for Biden ahead of a local interview, a decision that drew sharp criticism and became a lasting symbol of the campaign’s tightly controlled media strategy.
“The significance of Bernal and Tomasini is the degree to which their rise in the Biden White House signaled the success of people whose allegiance was to the Biden family – not to the presidency, not to the American people, not to the country, but to the Biden theology,” the authors wrote.
As Bernal earned a reputation for criticizing other aides, “some even described him as the worst person they had ever met,” Tapper and Thompson said.
This comes as several top figures want Jill Biden held accountable.
Republican Illinois Rep. Mary Miller has called for former first lady Jill Biden to face criminal charges for elder abuse after her husband, former President Joe Biden, announced his cancer diagnosis following reports of significant mental deterioration throughout his term.
“Jill Biden was complicit in covering up Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline,” the congresswoman said in a post on X. “She should face CRIMINAL CHARGES for elder abuse!!”
In an interview with The Post last week, geriatric medical specialist Elaine Healy said that the former president is showing “telltale signs of elder abuse.”
“Visible bruising and other injuries from physical violence are obvious forms of abuse. Non-violent actions — like deprivation of food, causing weight loss, or intimidation, causing social withdrawal and personality changes — are also defined as abusive behavior,” she said.
“A more sinister type of elder abuse, however, involves the exploitation of an elderly individual for the abuser’s financial, personal, or — in this case — political gain,” the doctor said.
She also spoke about what the former first lady did with her husband after his infamous debate with then-GOP candidate Donald Trump, where she had to guide him off the stage.
“What was behind her insistence that he run for office when she, above all others, had to be aware of his failing cognitive capacities and declining physical health?” she said. “Is she a loving spouse or a master manipulator, using his dependency on her to control his decision-making? If the latter, she is engaged in elder abuse.”