Biden White House losing staffers at significantly higher rate than Trump, Obama

WASHINGTON (TND) — The Biden White House is losing staffers at an alarmingly high rate.

The shrinkage after President Joe Biden’s first year in office is greater than either of the last two former presidents’ first year in office, according to White House employment data analyzed by government watchdog group Open The Books.

The Executive Office of the President listed 474 paid and unpaid employees, including fellows, policy staffers, unpaid detailees, and one staff secretary, as of July 1 of this year, employment and salary data shows.

That is down from 560 paid and unpaid workers, that were in the White House in 2021 – Biden’s first year in office.

Compared to former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the decrease is substantially larger.

The White House saw only 4% and 1% staff reductions during Obama and Trump’s first years in office, respectively, according to The Washington Examiner.

Obama employed 485 in 2009, and 466 in 2010, while Trump employed 377 in 2017, and 372 in 2018, Open The Books’ analysis shows.

Rumors have been floated that Biden’s White House has been riddled with poor management and inner conflict, including in the office of the Vice President, which has also seen a high number of abrupt staff exits, but also between Biden and his staffers.

Last month, NBC News reported about a potential rift between the president and his team, learning through more than two dozen interviews with officials close to the president that Biden feels he is being undermined by them.

The report chronicled a moment when Biden’s aides reportedly walked back his comments that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” which reportedly made the president angry. According to those close to Biden, NBC reported, the president felt the incident was part of a larger pattern that fed GOP claims he is not fully in command of the presidency.

But Andrew Bates, a Biden spokesperson, denied the suggestion of a rift conveyed in NBC’s reporting.

“The breathlessness of graphs 1 & 2 versus the denial being relegated to graph 28 tells you what you need to know about this story,” Bates tweeted, alongside screenshots of the NBC News report. “And as we've said before, no clarifications of the President's remarks are ever issued without his direct approval.”