The White House confirmed Thursday that there will be no investigation into allegations of workplace misconduct leveled against Jill Biden’s senior advisor Anthony Bernal.
Bernal is accused of bullying and sexually harassing colleagues for more than a decade, the New York Post reported last month. The Post spoke with over a dozen of Bernal’s current and former colleagues who asked for anonymity due to fears of retaliation. Five of the sources described instances of bullying that was so demeaning colleagues were reduced to tears. They told the Post that Bernal is “untouchable” because of his close relationship with Jill Biden, who considers him to be her “work husband.”
When questioned about the allegations during the daily press briefing Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that Joe Biden’s Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and Bernal himself had called the allegations “unfounded,” and had “nothing else to share.”
According to the Post, however, three sources claimed that Bernal, who is gay, habitually obsesses about the the penis size of his colleagues.
Two sources said Bernal, 50, shared with them a theory that the size of a person’s thumb corresponds to that of their genitalia — citing the hypothesis both at the White House and in prior roles during President Biden’s campaign and vice presidency under President Barack Obama.
“It is to make people uncomfortable and to have power over them,” said a source who claimed to have heard Bernal make similar crude remarks over the several years they worked together.
“It is Me Too — classic Me Too,” the source added.
A second source recounted hearing Bernal speculate “often” inside the White House about the endowments of fellow political aides and even Secret Service agents.
A third source recalled a disparaging “jab” during a workplace disagreement in which Bernal said a colleague had a small penis, as well as a separate encounter in which the top aide “remarked on another staffer’s bulge in his khakis.”
The third source—a former colleague—told the Post that Bernal made “a lot of inappropriate remarks” that he had come to see as “actually sexual harassment,” such as “talking about other people’s attractiveness and speculating about their sex lives at very weird moments.”
An expert on workplace sexual harassment told the Post that this type of behavior is called “gender hostility.”
Bernal is also accused of routinely speculating on the sexual preferences of White House colleagues. This alleged behavior also apparently made people uncomfortable.
“I have heard him say inappropriate things about people’s sexuality or pry inappropriately into people’s personal lives,” one former co-worker recalled. “I heard him ask if people are gay all the time.”
Another source said, “I could think of more than one instance where he pontificated on whether someone was gay or not or said, ‘They are definitely gay.’”
Some sources told the Post they considered it “hypocritical” for Joe Biden to keep Bernal on staff after he vowed on his first day in office to fire aides “on the spot” if he heard that they have shown “disrespect” to people in their professional conduct.
“I’m not joking when I say this,” Biden told his appointees on Inauguration Day 2021. “If you’re ever working with me, and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot. On the spot. No ifs, ands, or buts.”
Biden had framed his strict code of conduct policy as an attempt to restore civility to the White House after it had been sullied by the brutish Trump people. “Everybody, everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity,” he said. “That’s been missing in a big way in the last four years.”
Just a few weeks later, White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo was suspended for threatening a journalist using “derogatory and misogynistic” language.
Ducklo resigned in February 2021 but was rehired two years later to work for Biden’s re-election campaign.
“They talk a big game about integrity, decency, and kindness but when you work for the Bidens, you experience anything but that,” said a former White House adviser told the Post.
“They choose to surround themselves with bullies who run around the White House like mean girls, making the president and first lady look like phonies to everyone in Washington because everyone on the inside talks about what happens there on the outside,” the former advisor added.
“It reflects poorly on the president and the first lady,” said one of the sources.
“I don’t think people understand how much power and influence he has. The problem is it is career-ending for anyone to talk on the record for these stories,” said another colleague.
This person described Bernal as creating a “hostile work environment” for employees in the first lady’s East Wing and those he encountered in the West Wing.
“The dignity speech doesn’t apply to him and everyone knows that. This is not new behavior, and that’s what’s so upsetting, because no one does anything,” the source said.
“He’s seen as untouchable due to his relationship with the first lady,” one former White House official said. “Staff have been told he’s ‘protected’ by Jill or that they should take it up with him directly.”
The New York Post isn’t the first news outlet to have reported on Bernal’s treatment of colleagues. In a story in August 2021, the Politico reported on his “mean streak,” without any allegations of sexual harassment.
Politico interviewed more than two dozen White House staffers, former campaign aides, and people who worked with him during the Obama administration.
Many described him as “berating” and “toxic” because of his unfiltered criticism of others and tendency to trash talk his colleagues behind their backs. Some compare him to MERYL STREEP’s character in “Devil Wears Prada” while another equated him to the ever-conspiring Littlefinger in “Game of Thrones.”
A source told the Post that Bernal “just sort of targets and goes in on certain people” and that the sexual remarks become part of a “pressure cooker” environment.
“There’s no way [Jill Biden] doesn’t know. It has been going on so long,” the source said. “I don’t think she has a lot of advisers willing to give her a gut check. I think she thinks that Anthony’s like her bulldog protecting her.”
Another former White House staffer, said: “There is genuine frustration with the first lady among the staff inside the White House. How can you write a children’s book about your husband fighting bullies while your most senior staffer harasses and berates the staff in your own office and your husband’s team on a regular basis?”
That source added: “This is the second administration I’ve worked in and I’ve never seen White House staff behavior this shocking. I hope a third party will step in and investigate or do an audit and interview staffers in secret without fear of retribution.
“Working for the Bidens is like living in another century,” that person went on. “You really cannot speak up without fear of personal or professional retaliation.
“He is by far the worst and most well-known abuser, but the Biden White House is a magnet for ugly and abusive workplace behavior. It’s totally inexcusable [in] this day [and] age, especially with Biden’s own narrative about standing up to bullies,” the source continued.
“Her book and his stern lecture at the beginning of the administration about respect for colleagues is all bulls—. They couldn’t care less how staff is treated because staff is totally disposable to them. They’ve had a revolving door of staff catering to them for their entire adult lives.”
The ex-staffer also noted that “the Bidens wouldn’t tolerate their own daughter, son, or grandchildren being treated the way Bernal abuses his power and his colleagues.”
A third source said “I don’t think he’s pulled the wool over [Jill Biden’s] eyes. I think it’s really nice to have someone that’s gonna do the dirty work, the hard stuff and have hard conversations with people,” said that source.
“And then I think it kind of got out of hand and has gotten out of control. I think she knows and it’s just their dynamic.”
This source added: “He calls people ‘stupid,’ he plays games with people — basically he talks s— about everyone to everyone [about their] intelligence, what they’re wearing, or what they look like in their clothes.”
Yet another source told the Post that Bernal “vacations with the first family. They’re his life and that gives him carte blanche.”
A former top Biden aide told Fox News that the allegations in the Post story “line up with everything I experienced working there.” The aide, who wished to remain anonymous, added: “I’m surprised it has taken this long for so many staffers to speak out. I wouldn’t be shocked if this empowered current and past staff to come forward.”
A number of former co-workers defended Bernal, telling the Post that “what would appear to be inappropriate behavior may be related to his long working hours.” These sources argued that his abrasive nature is just an indication of his high standards.
“Anthony is tough. He’s a tough dude. And he’s there to get the job done. He’s there to fight for the first lady,” said one ex-colleague who said they personally did not feel bullied, but acknowledged that “it’s not lost on me that he is intense and he can rub people the wrong way.”
Another insider who has worked at the White House said that in that environment, “you’re working like 80 percent of your life … so you get close to a lot of your colleagues.”
In reaction to the Post’s story, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients defended Bernal, saying “The president and first lady have full confidence in Anthony’s character, as do I. His many fans at the White House know him to be both gracious and tough, holding himself up to the highest standards, with a heart dedicated to public service. It is disappointing that he is the target of unfounded attacks from unnamed sources.”
In a separate statement, Bernal flatly denied the claims. “These unfounded attacks are not true,” he said.
Regardless, two former colleagues told the Post that Bernal’s bad reputation had made it difficult for them to line up volunteers to do advance work for when Jill Biden was traveling.
“Staffers in the state campaign offices would draw straws for who would have to staff Jill when she came to campaign there,” said a Democrat strategist who worked on Biden’s 2020 campaign.
“Everyone on the president’s staff just wanted to avoid her or being assigned to work with her team, because it meant being bullied by Anthony.”
On Thursday, NY Post reporter Steven Nelson asked Jean-Pierre why the White House was not investigating the allegations after Joe Biden had made the point of promising to fire people who were disrespectful.
Nelson said his sources were “alarmed” by the White House’s dismissive attitude, saying it could chill future sexual harassment and bullying reports.
Jean-Pierre said that she didn’t know who the sources were and thus couldn’t “speak to” their allegations. She went on to reiterate Zients’ and Bernal’s statements denying the allegations.
“I don’t have anything else to share on that,” she said.
Karine Jean-Pierre defends the lack of official investigation into Anthony Bernal — Jill Biden, Ed.D.'s "untouchable" top aide — after multiple allegations of sexual harassment against him spanning a decade pic.twitter.com/RcoDviBk3Y
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) April 4, 2024