White House staff complained about Biden’s associates: they create a toxic atmosphere

The administration of US President Joe Biden is raising questions among White House staff. The director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy has been described by subordinates as a “prima donna” who has created dysfunction within a small group of government officials tasked with combating the drug addiction and overdose epidemic in the United States, according to the report. And the head of the country encourages his subordinate to create a “toxic” atmosphere, threatening him with dismissals from the beginning of his term.

Several current and former Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) officials told Politico they blame office director Dr. Rahul Gupta for creating a “toxic” work environment that has led to high staff turnover and missed critical deadlines because the director focused on his “political aspirations” rather than on the actual work he was doing.

“When everyone is leaving, it can’t be everyone’s problem,” one former ONDCP official admitted to the publication, which noted that at least eight senior officials and several other employees have resigned in recent months, largely because of Gupta.

According to the report, Gupta pressured staff to gain public attention throughout his tenure and loses his temper when he is displeased with his travel arrangements.

In one case, a Biden administration official canceled a trip months in the making because he refused to fly on Southwest Airlines. Gupta also once asked staff to give him another hotel room after he measured the size of the room already reserved for him and decided it was too small.

The ONDCP director also insisted on using government vehicles to attend events, such as embassy parties on weekends, that are not related to the work of his office.

“I think he likes the benefits of the job. “I think he likes the title and the opportunity to travel,” says the former official. “But I don’t know if he likes the work it takes to make this place very relevant.”

Former West Virginia Health Commissioner Rahul Gupta also came under fire for not supporting and rarely listening to aides recovering from substance use disorders working in his White House office.

At the same time, President Joe Biden warned White House staffers as soon as he took office that he would fire them “on the spot” if he was ever heard to be disparaging or disrespecting their colleagues. Current and former ONDCP officials who spoke to Politico argue that Gupta’s professional behavior contradicts the 81-year-old president’s mission statement and that it may appear to the public as encouragement from the head of state.

“The way he treats people is the exact opposite of what Biden says he expects from his staff. I think everyone is afraid to come forward because they are afraid of retaliation,” a source close to the White House told the publication.

In addition to creating a “toxic atmosphere,” the Biden administration official is failing to crack down on illegal substances, leading people to call him a “drug lord.”

“We were hired to do very specific work that is important to the American people, important to the Biden administration, especially in relation to the Hunter Biden case,” said a former agency official, referring to the struggle with addiction of the president’s eldest son.

More than 111,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in the 12 months ending in September 2023, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is up from 109,000 estimated deaths over the same period in 2022 and 105,000 estimated deaths in 2021.

“Whatever we did to try to advance the real agenda of the administration, the director’s political aspirations would get in the way,” the former official lamented.