According to The Wall Street Journal, aides to Biden colluded to prevent the public from knowing just how substantial his mental decline was, and that the effort to cover it up actually began during his 2020 presidential campaign and continues to this day.

“To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, [aides] told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and some cabinet members—including powerful secretaries such as Defense’s Lloyd Austin and Treasury’s Janet Yellen—were infrequent or grew less frequent,” the WSJ reported. “Some legislative leaders had a hard time getting the president’s ear at key moments, including ahead of the U.S.’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.”

“Senior advisers were often put into roles that some administration officials and lawmakers thought Biden should occupy, with people such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, senior counselor Steve Ricchetti and National Economic Council head Lael Brainard and her predecessor frequently in the position of being go-betweens for the president,” the outlet continued.

The report said senior staff instructed press aides tasked with compiling news clips for President Biden to omit negative stories about him. Meanwhile, the president avoided communicating with his own pollsters, even as surveys showed him trailing in the 2024 race.