As questions started to arise over Joe Biden’s mental health around midway through his presidency, staffers were clearly given talking points on the matter.
We heard time and again from officials that Biden was “sharp as ever,” with these staffers often telling tales of their interactions with the president.
One of those officials, Ian Sams, who repeated that line countless times, just came clean that he actually saw Biden no more than a handful of times during his time serving on the White House staff.
That phrase was repeated so often, it was clear that the White House had given talking points to everyone in the administration to use when they were asked about Biden.
For instance, in early July 2024, then-press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if she had seen any signs that Biden was slowing down.
She responded, “What I can say is this is a president who is strong and resolute in delivering for the American people.”
KJP later added, “I see a president when I’m sitting in front of him, going through the day or talking about what he’s doing next. He is someone that engages with us. He wants wants to know, he pushes us, he prods us -- wanting to figure out like the bigger picture of whatever we’re trying to explain to him, or even granule details.”
Sams was one of Biden’s fiercest defenders, and he was being tasked with defending Biden in the wake of then-special counsel Robert Hur’s blistering report on the then-president and a probe of his handling of classified documents.
The spokesman torched Hur for "making gratuitous and inappropriate criticisms of the president," claiming it was all politically motivated.
Sams repeatedly denied the allegations being made about Biden’s health to the media. For instance, while on MSNBC, Sams stated, "No, I've gotta say that doesn't look anything like the president that I know. When I deal with him, he's sharp. He's asking tough questions."
What he failed to note was that he barely spent any time with Biden at all, so he really had no idea what the president was like on a day-to-day basis.
It sure is funny how the story changes when that hand goes on the Bible, and one could go to jail for not telling the truth. And that is what just happened with Sams.
While regularly giving the impression he had regular interactions with Biden, Sams’s story changed while testifying before Congress under oath. Sams admitted that he "interacted with him pretty infrequently" and "met with the president a handful of times during my tenure in the White House." And some of those interactions were only over the phone.
Sams tried to spin this as much as he could during his testimony, saying that he only “spoke about my own interactions with him." But again, he was portraying himself as someone who saw Biden all the time, yet it simply was not the case.
After the details of Sams’ testimony were revealed, the House Oversight Committee GOP posted to X, "Ian Sams, one of Joe Biden's spokespersons, met with him only TWICE in over TWO YEARS. Then he would go on live television and say he interacted with him EVERY SINGLE DAY. He was LYING to the American people to cover up for Biden's decline.”
But this is the problem… White House officials lie to the American people every day, both sides. So what are we going to do about it? How do we make sure they tell us the truth rather than pushing party narratives and spin? Until we figure that out, the brutal truth is that D.C. simply cannot be trusted.
