A top communications team member of President Joe Biden has announced her departure ahead of his upcoming State of the Union address on March 1.
Mariel Saez, White House director of broadcast media, revealed her decision to leave the Biden administration role in a statement on Monday.
“It has been an honor to serve the President as Director of Broadcast Media, and I am grateful to my talented and dedicated colleagues at the White House and across the Administration who worked hand-in-hand with me to communicate the President’s priorities across broadcast media,” Saez said in a statement to CNN.
Saez previously served House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) for a decade prior to her role in the White House. She was also involved in the Presidential Inaugural Committee prior to her broadcast director role.
Biden has only conducted a small number of broadcast interviews since entering office. Many of the interviews he has given have been marred by gaffes, angry statements, and fact checks that have required clean-up by other White House officials.
For example, Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “President Harris” in January. It was not the first time the president has misidentified his vice president.
“Last week, President Harris and I stood in the United States Capitol,” the president errantly said in reference to the Democratic Party’s remembrance of the January 6 riot which Harris compared to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.
BIDEN: "Last week, *President Harris* and I stood in the United States Capitol…" pic.twitter.com/hkfaZTNTRm
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 11, 2022
Biden previously referred to Harris as “president” in a December speech.
Joe Biden: “President Harris" pic.twitter.com/oEKFhBXxA3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 17, 2021
The president has even been dubbed a “gaffe machine” in one collection of humorous clips regarding Biden’s speech blunders.
In addition to Saez’s resignation, the CNN report also noted other White House officials are expected to make departures in the weeks ahead, with announcements awaiting his March 1 State of the Union address.
Biden’s staffing change also adds to a growing list of White House turnover. A third aide to Harris left her office in January after claims of dysfunction within the office. The Daily Wire previously reported:
Vincent Evans, deputy director of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, has quit to take on a new job on Capitol Hill, CNBC reported Wednesday. He left to join the Congressional Black Caucus, which is headed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), which certainly appears to be less than a lateral move.
He is the latest top staffer to leave the veep’s office amid reports that Harris is a “bully” who levels “soul-destroying criticism” in a highly dysfunctional office. Last month, her spokeswoman, Symone Sanders, and her communications director Ashley Etienne, left Harris’ office.
Another former Harris staffer told The Washington Post in December, “It’s clear that you’re not working with somebody who is willing to do the prep and the work.”
The staffer continued, “With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you’re constantly sort of propping up a bully and it’s not really clear why.”
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