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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Eric Garcia

Biden privately loses his temper and yells at staffers, report claims

EPA

President Joe Biden is known to privately lose his temper and launch into expletive-filled rants toward his staffers, according to a report from Axios.

The president’s temper is so notorious that some of his staff will not meet with him alone and bring a colleague just for protection.

According to the report, staff say that Mr Biden’s tirades feature him saying “God d***it, how the f*** don't you know this?!,” “Don't f***king bullsh*t me!,” “Get the f*** out of here!”

The Independent has requested comment from the White House.

One administration official said, “No one is safe,” as he reportedly laid into Jeff Zients, his czar for managing the Covid-19 pandemic during a surge of the Omicron variant because of a lack of testing kits.

But the anger eventually blew over and Mr Zients now serves as White House chief of staff. Mr Zients’s spokesperson said, “I'm not going to speak to what internal convos may or may not have happened between Jeff and the president.”

Chris Whipple, the author of The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House, recounted in the book that former press secretary Jen Psaki said: “I said to [Biden] multiple times, 'I'll know we have a really good, trusting relationship when you yell at me the first time,” and that Ms Psaki did not have to wait for long.

Mr Biden reportedly grills aides until he reveals they do not know the answer to a question, with some calling the exercise “stump the chump" or “stump the dummy.”

The president’s former chief of staff in the Senate Ted Kaufman said that Mr Biden’s office on Capitol Hill was incredibly policy-driven.

“If there is something that's not in the brief, he's going to find it,” he told Axios. “It's not to embarrass people, it's because he wants to get to the right decision. Most people who have worked for him like the fact that he challenges them and gets them to a better decision.”

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