OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The reported actions of a senior White House official, including allegations of longstanding bullying and verbal sexual harassment of staff members, are accurate, according to a former top Biden aide who spoke to Fox News Digital, who added that these claims warrant an internal investigation.
The New York Post reported on Tuesday that Anthony Bernal, an openly gay top aide to first lady Jill Biden, has a lengthy history of questionable conduct at work but is considered “untouchable” because she sees him as her “work husband.”
According to the report, Bernal has reportedly engaged in speculating about the penis size of staffers, a behavior that one of the publication’s sources interpreted as an attempt to make people uncomfortable and assert dominance.
“It lines up with everything I experienced working there,” the former top Biden aide, who requested anonymity, told Fox News Digital.
“I’m surprised it has taken this long for so many staffers to speak out,” the person said. “I wouldn’t be shocked if this empowered current and past staff to move forward.”
According to the Post’s report, two individuals claimed that Bernal shared his theory suggesting that a person’s thumb size is linked to their penis size. He allegedly made these remarks not only during his time in the current White House but also in previous roles in the Biden campaign and during Biden’s vice presidency.
“It is to make people uncomfortable and to have power over them,” one source told The Post. “It is Me Too – classic Me Too.”
Another source told The Post that Bernal frequently speculated about the penis size of various individuals, including political aides and Secret Service agents.
A third individual added that before Biden’s presidency, Bernal allegedly remarked to a colleague that he had a small penis during a disagreement. Additionally, on another occasion, he reportedly commented on a “staffer’s bulge in his khakis.”
“It was a lot of inappropriate remarks — talking about other people’s attractiveness and speculating about their sex lives at very weird moments,” that source told the outlet. “That’s actually sexual harassment.”
According to the report, Bernal also frequently questioned people’s sexuality and delved into their personal lives said the report, which was based on interviews with nearly a dozen current and former staffers.
The sources said they are coming forward because they want Bernal held accountable.
“If the White House Counsel is investigating the behavior of a junior staffer in the scheduling and advance office, does that mean they’re investigating Anthony Bernal, an assistant to the president, too?” a former top Biden aide told Fox News. “A dozen sources seem like enough to trigger that type of internal investigation.”
Jeff Zients, the White House chief of staff, responded to the allegations by claiming that the Bidens have “full confidence in Anthony’s character.”
“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,” Zients told the Post. “It is disappointing that he is the target of unfounded attacks from unnamed sources.”
The former aide also said that Zients ought to be furious at the White House over the situation, Fox reported.
“From a comms approach, I have no idea what the hell they were thinking by putting Jeff Zients’ name on a statement defending a guy accused by a dozen staffers of being a bully and worse,” the former aide said. “If I were Zients, I would be furious that I was left up the creek without a paddle. No one was protecting him in an effort to protect a serial abuser who has been a ticking time bomb for the Bidens for over a decade. If it weren’t for that book from a New York Times reporter, this would have continued to go unnoticed.”
“Aside from associating the White House chief of staff with a culture of abuse, bullying and harassment, they have elevated a story in an outlet they rarely treat with any credibility,” the former aide added. “They go out of their way to tell everyone to ignore the [New York] Post. But when you provide a statement from the White House chief of staff, you’re giving the story an avalanche of credibility and providing a permission structure for other outlets and journalists to advance the story.”
