‘Triggering’: White House Staff Reportedly Furious Over Limitations on ‘Departure Photos’ with President Biden

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

White House staffers are reportedly “annoyed” and even triggered by President Joe Biden’s handling of the traditional “departure photos” offered when a chief executive leaves office.

From Friday morning’s edition of Politico Playbook:

As grim reality has set in following DONALD TRUMP’s election victory, those staffers toiling away in the West Wing and EEOB have had something else sapping their morale — and blowing up their group chats: a growing concern that they might not get their departure photos with the president, a meaningful memento for those who have served in this and past administrations.

“It was one small, good thing to look forward to for staffers dealing with the aftermath of Election Day and the end of their time on campus. Instead, dozens of them have grown upset,” explained the authors of the popular newsletter.

Biden reportedly took several months off from posing for the pictures, until last week, when  the Office of Management and Administration sent an email to staff saying that it was “pleased to invite all current EOP political appointees for a departure photo to celebrate your time and work while at the White House.”

“The next sentence, however, was a bummer for those who, given the precedent, had planned to bring parents and spouses along for their presidential send-off: ‘These will be individual clicks (no guests) with the President in the Oval Office,’” reported Playbook.

And that’s not where the hard feelings end:

“Instead of everyone being annoyed by no departure photos, now it’s only half of the people who are annoyed,” one current administration official said.

But “annoyed” may be understating the feelings of former administration officials who haven’t gotten departure photos with Biden. The flood of Instagram and LinkedIn posts of POTUS photos by more junior staffers, some of whom have only been working at the White House for months, has been rather triggering for more senior former White House officials who moved to other agencies or outside government.

“Like why did I see an intern turned staff assistant get a photo before me?” one former official asked their colleagues in one group text that was shared with Playbook.

This isn’t the first time spirits have been low on Team Biden. Back in 2021, White House aides were reportedly demoralized over not being invited holiday parties. And more recently, Biden’s campaign suffered a morale crisis after his performance in his June debate with Donald Trump.