(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Some of President Joe Biden’s staunch defenders are complaining about anonymous sources in media reports that suggest growing efforts to push Biden out of the 2024 ticket over concerns about his ability to win the election.
At the center of these complaints are headlines citing unnamed sources who, among other things, claim Biden will quit the race as soon as this weekend. Other sources claim Biden will not endorse Kamala Harris, his equally unpopular running mate, to replace him.
Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, who serves as co-chair of the Biden campaign, criticized her allies for leaking information about the Democratic Party’s mishaps with Biden leading the ticket.
“While some folks are commenting to reporters anonymously, the rest of us are on the record and working hard to make sure that we win this election in November,” she said during a CNN interview on Friday morning.
Recalling alleged conversations with constituents, Escobar added, “Their perception is that our nominee is being attacked from within by anonymous sources and reporters are reporting on all of this anonymous gossip.”
The Texas Democrat claimed to have spoken with the Biden campaign and the White House, who both refuted allegations triggering damning headlines. “Yet reporters continue to quote anonymous sources,” she said.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates also criticized the extensive reporting published without prior requests for comment from the White House.
“Most every reporter we deal with is good about this as they go about their important and difficult jobs,” he wrote, “But for the outliers, a polite reminder: *we* are aware that *you* are aware that you have a responsibility to come to us for comment *before* publishing.”
Reacting to Bates’s complaints, Tim Murtaugh, the former communications director of the 2020 Trump Campaign, wrote, “It takes enormous arrogance and a colossal sense of entitlement for Biden White House staffers to claim unfair treatment by the media.”
It takes enormous arrogance and a colossal sense of entitlement for Biden White House staffers to claim unfair treatment by the media.
This particular jabroni, @AndrewBates46, has been the worst offender in lying about Biden’s condition.
Why would they ever ask him again? pic.twitter.com/AI6iuNfT4w
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) July 19, 2024
This is not the first time Bates has criticized the media for hostility, a challenge many Republican communications staffers have faced in the past.
In a tweet, Bates complained about The New York Times giving the White House less than seven minutes to comment on a story.
“That claim is absolutely false. If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment we would have told them so,” Bates stated.
That claim is absolutely false. If the New York Times had provided us with more than 7 minutes to comment we would have told them so. https://t.co/SRTYIVTy7v
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) July 3, 2024
Escobar’s and Bates’s grievances contrast sharply with some of their colleagues’ reliance on anonymous sources to attack then-President Donald Trump.
Most infamously, Democrats hailed the author initially dubbed “Anonymous,” behind the book A Warning.
The book claimed there was a resistance within the Trump administration pushing back against the policies that American voters elected Trump to implement.
The author was later revealed to be Miles Taylor, a mid-level staffer at the Trump-led DHS and a Biden supporter.
