From eyebrow-raising comments in the New York Post to Jake Tapper’s “Original Sin,” Joe and Jill Biden’s marriage has been under the microscope in 2025. One of the biggest questions on many people’s lips involves just how much influence Jill had over her husband during his presidency. Unfortunately for the former FLOTUS, the stories about her “work husband” and senior advisor Anthony Bernal have been pretty damning, and have only added fuel to the fire.
Advertisement
ICYMI, early March 2025 saw the New York Post run a story about Jill’s right-hand man, who many insiders deemed as spectacularly shady. In fact, some former Biden employees went as far as accusing Bernal of sexual harassment. “It was a lot of inappropriate remarks — talking about other people’s attractiveness and speculating about their sex lives at very weird moments,” complained one ex-staffer. Others concurred, with one even summing up Bernal’s behavior as “classic Me Too.” Not long after, Tapper’s book, which he co-authored with Alex Thompson, included a quote from another Biden staffer who didn’t mince words: “He would not be welcome at my funeral.” Yikes.
As for what Bernal’s detractors have accused him of, other than allegations of inappropriate conduct, he’s also been accused of holding way more influence within the White House than he should have. In fact, in an undercover sting by Project Veritas, activist-turned-politician David Hogg made this bold declaration: “Jill Biden’s chief of staff had an enormous amount of power.” Deterrian Jones, who’d worked for the Biden administration’s White House Office of Digital Strategy, agreed. “I can’t stress this to you how much power he had at the White House,” Jones said. Neither went into further detail, though Jones admitted to being scared of him and keeping his distance — that in itself is concerning.
Advertisement
Anthony Bernal was asked to clarify usurper rumors
Of all the damning allegations against Anthony Bernal, Congress was particularly interested in the possibility that he had acted on behalf of Joe Biden while he was still president — aka, not good.
Advertisement
In a letter to Bernal, Congressman James Comer asked him to undergo an interview with the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “The committee remains concerned that you, as both assistant to the president and the first lady’s confidant, were involved in running interference on behalf of the former president and perhaps performing duties exclusively for the President of the United States,” the letter read. Comer’s letter also threw some shade at Bernal for not agreeing to previous requests, noting that he’d been asked to speak to the committee in late 2023, subpoenaed to do so in mid-2024, and then managed to avoid it when Biden’s administration put an end to the investigation.
In early June 2025 — just one day ahead of the cutoff date for Bernal to respond to Comer’s letter — Axios reported that Bernal had agreed to speak. At the time of this writing, the former FLOTUS hasn’t said anything about that or the possibility of him usurping her husband’s gig. TBH, unless her feud partner, Karoline Leavitt, gets her wish and she’s legally compelled to, we’re not banking on that changing. After all, she didn’t respond to any of the prior allegations about Bernal’s conduct. What’s more, on the occasions she has spoken about Bernal, it’s been gushy. As many outlets have pointed out, Jill Biden gave Bernal a special mention in her acknowledgments in “Where the Light Enters,” thanking him for encouraging her to write it. “He knows how much I love him and respect him,” she wrote. Don’t mind us, we’re just sipping our tea.
Advertisement
