BYE BYE BIDEN

Ex-White House Staffers Angry at Biden Over Exit Photo Snub

A group of former staffers may take action to get their photos with the president.

Joe Biden’s White House may soon face a mutiny from some of its alumni, but not for weighty issues like Israel’s war in Gaza. A contingent of former White House officials have been mulling a petition to the Biden administration over a lack of “departure photos,” the customary photos a president takes with outgoing staff and their families to honor their service, according to Politico. Biden had stopped doing the photos for months this year (perhaps dealing with other, potentially more pressing concerns), and when the White House did resume them this month, they only extended the offer to current staff—without the usual plus ones. It prompted a number of former staffers to air their grievances in a group chat, where the petition was considered. A White House official told Politico the group would soon be invited to get their “clicks” with Biden in the Oval Office, though it’s unclear when over the next two months. “The staffers who gave everything to this President,” a former official wrote to their old colleagues, according to Politico, "who missed anniversaries, birthdays, their own doctors appointments, knowing democracy itself was on the line, deserve at the very least a proper goodbye from the man who says he owes them everything.”