White House chief of staff Jeff Zients told aides Wednesday to keep their heads up and tune out the noise as President Biden tries to reassure Democrats after his rocky debate performance last week.
In an all-staff conference call, Zients acknowledged that the past few days have been challenging but said White House aides have an extraordinary record to be proud of and more work to do, according to sources on the call.
There is a lot of noise and talking, Zients acknowledged, but he advised the team to tune out and maintain discipline.
The chief of staff said the president has been sidelined numerous times, but he and his teams have always managed to overcome it, and urged staffers to remain a team and support each other, sources said.
The meeting comes as the president faces intense scrutiny following his disastrous debate performance last week.
The call is part of an effort Biden and his team have made to reassure Democrats that he can continue to run for re-election.
During the conference call, Zients pointed to July 4 as an important milestone in an election year and how the spotlight will be on the campaign, but cautioned that this does not mean governing is any less important. Zients said the work of governing is more critical now than ever.
The all-staff meeting comes hot on the heels of a smaller meeting with the top 40 senior staff last Friday.
White House senior adviser Anita Dunn acknowledged in that call that there were challenging days ahead.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
