New Book Reveals Eye-Popping Salary One Biden Aide Made

The chief strategist for Joe Biden’s 2024 presidential campaign made about $4 million—much more than others in the former president’s orbit. Mike Donilon’s pay “outraged” senior campaign staff, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson write in Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. “The president told the campaign: Pay Mike what he wants,” they write, Axios reported Tuesday. Donilon has been Biden’s adviser for more than four decades. After being lead strategist for his 2020 run for office, Donilon served in the White House until moving back out last January for Biden’s attempted reelection. Among the other juicy details in Tapper and Thompson’s book is how Biden’s aides discussed the possibility of him needing a wheelchair if reelected, and how he didn’t recognize George Clooney at a June 2024 fundraiser. In addition to those close to Biden, Tapper himself has been accused by some on the right for helping shield the public from Biden’s health condition, which the CNN anchor denies. As for Donilon, he said earlier this year that it was only a media-driven “impression” that Biden’s acuity weakened towards the end of his term.