Biden aides' drastic action to stop ailing president from talking to reporters

Daily Mail​

09-07-2025

Joe Biden 's aides changed his personal phone number and 'screamed' at a reporter after the president picked up a rogue phone call from a journalist seeking an interview, a new book claims.
The former president reportedly picked up a random number he didn't recognize soon after leaving office, sparking panic among his inner circle.
The reporter on the other line was Tyler Pager of The New York Times, who writes in his new book alongside Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal and Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post that the episode sent Biden's aides scrambling.
Pager said that he got hold of Biden's personal number in March, and when he cold called the president, 'Biden said he would be willing to speak for this book the next day.'
The book - titled How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America - claims that Biden then laid into his successor Donald Trump when he answered a call the next morning.
'I don't see anything he's done that's been productive,' Biden reportedly fumed.
Pager said soon after the call, he received a flurry of calls and texts from Biden's staff, questioning how he got the number and screaming at him.
When he tried to call Biden again the next day, Pager said that the number was dead, and a Verizon voicemail said it was 'no longer in service.'
Pager said that in his initial call with Biden, he asked the president if he regretted dropping out of the 2024 presidential election after Biden slammed Trump's first months in office.
'No, not now,' Biden reportedly answered.
'I don't spend a lot of time on regrets.'
The reporter said that Biden then hung up as he said he had to board an Amtrak train.
As Biden rode the Amtrak, a common sight in Washington DC since he has left office, Pager said Biden's staff immediately began berating him.
'Furious Biden aides repeatedly called and texted,' he said.
Pager said that one aide screamed at him, and 'others texted furiously, trying to figure out how I had obtained Mr. Biden's phone number.'
Before the line went dead within two days of the initial call, Pager said that his follow-up calls to Biden went straight to voicemail, where the president appeared to say his name 'Joe' before callers could leave a message.
In an excerpt of the book shared to The New York Times this week, Pager said his repeated requests to make good on Biden's offer to help the book were subsequently rebuffed.
He said that the president's aides told him Biden was working on a memoir that would clash with the upcoming book.
Pager's book - titled How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America - claims that Biden then laid into his successor Donald Trump when he answered a call. 'I don't see anything he's done that's been productive,' Biden reportedly fumed
The report comes amid mounting scrutiny on the alleged tight grip that Biden's inner circle kept over him while he was in the White House.
Biden was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in May, leading many to question how the commander-in-chief's illness went undetected for years until it had already spread to his bones.
Amid further allegations that Biden's aides covered up his apparent cognitive decline, the Republican-led Congress held hearings on Wednesday into the alleged cover-up of Biden's health in office.
In the hearings, Biden's personal physician Dr Kevin O'Connor pleaded the fifth amendment protection against 'self-incrimination' during his testimony.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who subpoenaed O'Connor, said that the doctor's decision to plead the fifth shows 'there was a conspiracy to cover up President Biden's cognitive decline.'
Biden's personal physician Dr Kevin O'Connor pleaded the fifth amendment protection against 'self-incrimination' during his testimony on Wednesday as he was called to Congress for a probe into Biden's apparent cognitive decline in office
'It's now clear there was a conspiracy to cover up President Biden's cognitive decline after Dr. Kevin O'Connor, Biden's physician and family business associate, refused to answer any questions and chose to hide behind the fifth amendment,' Comer said in a statement.
'Dr. O'Connor took the fifth when asked if he was told to lie about President Biden's health and whether he was fit to be President of the United States.'
O'Connor cited patient privilege as his reason for pleading the fifth. His lawyer, ahead of his testimony, expressed concern about what O'Connor would be able to say without violating doctor-patient confidentiality laws.
The physician was in charge of Biden's annual physical and repeatedly deemed Biden fit to hold office. Republicans charge the former president's inner circle engaged in a conspiracy to hide cognitive decline.