White House staff got a pep talk on Monday morning, 20 hours after President Joe Biden dramatically dropped out of the presidential race, but it failed to acknowledge their frustrations with learning the news alongside the American public.
Chief of Staff Jeff Zients held a six-minute phone call with staff, which one White House official described as ‘rah rah’ in nature.
Zients praised the administration’s accomplishments thus far and told staff there was still work to be done, according to a recording obtained by DailyMail.com.
But he didn’t acknowledge that staff wasn’t given a heads up on Biden’s decision.
Biden pulled the plug on his 2024 reelection bid Sunday with an announcement on X, blindsiding most White House aides and his campaign staff.
On the call, Zients is heard telling White House aides that Sunday was a ‘momentous day’ and that the Biden administration would be remembered ‘as one of the effective, consequential presidencies in American history.’
He said that beyond what the 81-year-old leader said on social media Sunday, Biden’s message to staff was that there was more work to be done.
Chief of Staff Jeff Zients gave staff a pep talk to the entire White House staff during a 10 a.m. call Monday, 20 hours after President Joe Biden dramatically dropped out of the presidential race
President Joe Biden was last seen publicly Wednesday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware after testing positive for COVID-19. He’s isolating at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
‘Every time I meet with the president, and particularly in the last 24 hours, he always emphasized how much more work we have to do to finish the job,’ Zients said.
Biden has been recovering from COVID-19 at his Rehoboth Beach, Delaware home since testing positive while on the campaign trail in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Only a handful of senior staff had been alerted in advance of Sunday’s announcement – that Biden would leave the race and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place as Democratic nominee.
Zients made clear that it was an official White House call, which meant he was barred from talking about the campaign due to the Hatch Act.
‘The White House counsel said if there’s one thing I couldn’t talk about and that was the next POTUS – president of the United States – whoever she may be,’ Zients teased.
‘I can say the president has made clear where he stands on their future and I’ll let him speak for himself and I’ll simply thank Vice President Harris for her extraordinary leadership for three and a half years,’ the chief of staff added.
One aide told DailyMail.com late Sunday afternoon that they felt ‘relieved.’ ‘Most people on staff feel a mix of relief, gratefulness, hope,’ the source said.
President Joe Biden shared this letter to social media Sunday, which was how the bulk of his White House and campaign staff found out about his decision to pull the plug on his 2024 reelection bid
Staffers seen at the White House on Monday seemed resigned to the whole situation.
Zients reiterated several times throughout the call that White House staff needed to remain a team.
‘So we need to do what this team does so well, which is execute and get stuff done,’ he said at one point. ‘It’s important that we stay close as a team to get that done.’
At another point in the call he said, ‘And I just love, love, love the teamwork.’
‘Everyone’s head down, locked arms, getting work done and having each other’s back,’ Zients said.
He encouraged aides to ‘really focus on extraordinary execution across the next six months on behalf of the American people’
As he said they needed to ‘run though this together and finish this job.’
