WASHINGTON — President Biden’s inner circle has gotten smaller following his disastrous debate last week — with his wife’s top aide Anthony Bernal emerging as one of the 81-year-old’s key advisers alongside longtime confidante Mike Donilon, four sources close to or inside the White House tell The Post.
Bernal, 51, is a divisive figure for allegedly bullying and sexually harassing colleagues — and his influence was likened by three sources to that held by the mystic Grigori Rasputin over the family and court of Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia.
First lady Jill Biden considers Bernal her “work husband” and he’s also close to scandal-plagued first son Hunter, whom Bernal greeted with a hug June 11 after his felony gun conviction.
“Donilon and Bernal are 100% the most important advisers post-debate,” said one Democratic source close to the administration.
“Bernal is the closest thing to Dr. B [Jill] so [Joe Biden] has a blind spot,” said a second source. “And Mike has been with him the longest and has his voice.”
Hunter Biden, 54, distrusts many of his father’s longtime aides and has been attending official meetings with his dad since the first son returned from Camp David on Monday.
Donilon’s role as senior adviser includes writing Biden’s most important speeches and he has also been a constant presence following the June 27 CNN debate.
Hunter and Jill Biden are among the most forceful advocates of Joe Biden continuing with his campaign for a second term, despite a groundswell of Democratic calls for him to step aside for fear of a blowout loss to former President Donald Trump on Nov. 5.
A White House source told The Post that many of the president’s old guard of longtime aides are believed to be left out of the loop of discussions “about what’s next” — saying Bernal, who frequently vacations with the first family, “seriously” has a Rasputin-like pull over the first family.
Another source said they agreed with the Rasputin analogy — describing Bernal’s influence and immunity from consequences for alleged personal misconduct as perplexing to fellow aides.
“He’s like a tick who has just latched himself on for the last 15 years,” this source said.
“Accurate and on point,” said a third source of the comparison to Rasputin, who was murdered in December 1916 by rivals who believed he was contributing to poor decision-making in the months before the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, in which the royal family was ultimately toppled and killed.
“Everyone has kept their heads down about Bernal and just tries to avoid him at all costs,” the third source said. “But everyone always predicted that this movie would end badly because of how he treats colleagues and always poisons the well for anyone else with the Bidens.
“He will go down with the ship but he’s also the one behind the wheel.”
One veteran Democratic aide went so far as to say “the country would be better off with Trump” than Biden if Bernal was helping run the government.
Sources also questioned whether Bernal should be calling the shots after he stunned onlookers by dancing at multiple presidential stops immediately after the catastrophic debate. He’s also been accused of missteps in the past, such as encouraging Jill Biden to speak Spanish in public.
Bernal long has been regarded as rivaling or exceeding White House chief of staff Jeff Zients in power due to his ability to imply he’s speaking for the first family, and his pull has grown as other aides either lay low or are blamed by Biden relatives for unsuccessful debate prep.
In a sign of Bernal’s influence, when multiple former colleagues accused him to The Post of sexual harassment in March, Zients — a successful businessman — quickly affixed his name to a statement calling the allegations “unfounded,” despite not even investigating the claims.
The president’s circle of trusted longtime aides include Steve Ricchetti and Bruce Reed, who one source said aren’t “rocking the boat” in the political firestorm following the debate; and senior adviser Anita Dunn, who alongside her husband, Biden personal attorney Bob Bauer, and former chief of staff Ron Klain, have attracted the family’s ire over debate preparations — criticism their allies have refuted as unfair.
Saloni Sharma, a spokesperson for the president, denied the sources’ description of Bernal’s rise.
“This is not true,” Sharma told The Post. “President Biden surrounds himself with a diverse group of senior advisors, some new and some that have been with him for years. He has confidence in all of them who share the same north star: winning campaigns ignore the noise and do the work to win.”
