The people hunkering down with Joe Biden right now,
who have, according to CNN sources,
encouraged the president to stay in the race despite a
poor debate performance,
are a tightly knit, fiercely loyal and surprisingly small group
of confidants for such an outgoing politician.
Biden really does have a very small group of people
he relies on for the most important things.
Closest to the president among his inner circle,
his wife of 47 years,
Jill Biden. She has a lot of sway.
The president trusts her implicitly,
and they talk about a lot of issues.
She gives the president political advice,
but also gives him just broader advice.
The only other person who comes close to Jill Biden
when it comes to having his trust,
Analysts say his sister Valerie Biden Owens,
three years younger than the president who was involved in
Biden's earliest presidential campaigns and helped him raise his two
young sons after his first wife and their daughter were
killed in a car crash.
Crucially, she can tell the president like I imagine most
sisters can tell the president when he's doing something that
might not be in his best interest or frankly,
boneheaded. Outside the immediate family,
longtime Biden friend and steady advisor Ted Kaufman is believed
to hold a great deal of influence.
Ted Kaufman, remember, was his chief of staff for many,
many years and got Biden's Senate seat when he resigned
to become Vice president.
Ted Kaufman is in his mid 80s,
so I'm not sure he thinks of the president as
his meal ticket.
There's also Anita Dunn, senior advisor to the president,
a long time Democratic strategist who said to have a
keen sense of the political winds.
Anita inside that room has a great deal of sway,
especially on where the president should be spending his time,
how she'd be spending his time,
and what states he's going to visit.
Ron Klain, who served as Biden's chief of staff when
he was vice president and in the same capacity during
the first two years of Biden's presidency,
and Mike Donilon, a top political strategist,
are also part of the Biden brain trust.
Could the president be considering a staff shake up after
his debate performance?
They were the people surrounding him at Camp David preparing
him for the debate.
So I guess it's possible he has a little less
confidence in them now than he did a week or
so ago.
Still, analysts say the president's loyalty to his inner circle
might well remain steadfast.
One thing that happens in Biden land is that you
get yelled at a lot,
but you don't necessarily get fired.
Are there any signs of fractures among members of President
Biden's inner circle?
Analyst Hans Nichols says at the moment there are no
outward signs that there are.
But he says that will be one of the crucial
developments that political operatives and journalists will be looking for
as we head toward the Democratic National Convention in August.