Presidents always have gatekeepers. In Biden’s case, the walls around him were higher and the controls greater as aides managed the limitations of the oldest president in American history.

Top advisers frequently acted as go-betweens, and public interactions became more scripted.

The administration denied Biden has declined and said advisers were working under his direction.

Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and some cabinet members—including Defense’s Lloyd Austin and Treasury’s Janet Yellen—were infrequent or grew less frequent. Some legislative leaders had a hard time getting the president’s ear at key moments.

“The Biden White House was more insulated than most. I spoke with Barack Obama on a number of occasions when he was president and I wasn’t even chairman of the committee,” said Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, who sought to talk to Biden ahead of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan but couldn’t get him on the phone.

To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, aides told visitors to keep meetings focused. Staff often repeated instructions to him, such as where to enter or exit a stage.

“They body him to such a high degree,” a person who witnessed it said, adding that the “hand holding” is unlike anything other recent presidents have had.

Press aides who compiled packages of news clips for Biden were told by senior staff to exclude negative stories about the president. The president wasn’t talking to his own pollsters as surveys showed him trailing in the 2024 race.

If the president was having an off day, meetings could be scrapped altogether. On one such occasion, in the spring of 2021, a national security official explained to another aide why a meeting needed to be rescheduled.

“He has good days and bad days, and today was a bad day so we’re going to address this tomorrow,” the former aide recalled the official saying.

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