Biden’s Advance Team Is Rife With Turmoil And Toxicity, Staff Allege

During a reelection year, few aides are as critical to the president’s success as those on the White House advance team — the network of White House and campaign aides tasked with coordinating, designing and staging his public speeches and events across the country.

But within the tight-knit advance community, there’s serious concern about the current direction of the office, according to interviews with 18 current and former White House staffers and people who have worked directly with it.

The culture within the office has gotten so bad that the White House Counsel’s Office opened an investigation, according to three people who were contacted last fall by the office for interviews. Specifically, they said, investigators looked into complaints of verbal harassment by Ian Mellul, the former associate director of presidential advance. Mellul resigned March 1 after a months-long investigation, according to multiple people familiar with the situation. Brie Moore, the former director of press advance, also resigned within the past few weeks following complaints from the press corps to the White House about her behavior, several people familiar with the office said.

Those who spoke with POLITICO worried about the implications that turmoil within the team could have on President Joe Biden’s reelection efforts. The advance office leans on a nationwide network of volunteers — often advance staffers from previous administrations or past campaign cycles — to help with the president’s trips.

But the Biden office has earned such a bad reputation that some seasoned vets have declined to pitch in when asked, according to four former White House staffers. Those familiar with the Biden operation said that meant more room for error, especially as the president travels more frequently ahead of the general election.

In a text to POLITICO, Mellul denied making verbal threats to staffers. “That is simply not true,” he said. Moore did not respond to a request for comment.

Mellul’s behavior towards junior staff was widely known on campus, and staffers did not see meaningful changes in the years he worked in the office, current and former staffers said.

The White House’s HR team opened an investigation into Mellul’s conduct about a year ago, which led to him getting management training and an executive coach, according to a person familiar with the situation. Eventually the counsel’s office decided to investigate Mellul after additional complaints were made before he was put on paid administrative leave and then resigned, the person said.

Deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said “we do not comment on personnel matters one way or another” when asked about the White House investigation into Mellul.

Mellul — who did advance for Biden’s 2020 campaign and joined the White House early on in the presidency — would threaten staffers that he would “ruin your life” when mistakes were made and regularly called junior staffers “pieces of shit” and “worthless,” according to two of the people who witnessed his actions. Mellul would also demand interns run personal errands, like picking up his dry cleaning.

“There’s a right and a wrong way to treat people in any business,” said one of the former White House advance associates, who like the others, was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “You’re just not putting your best face forward for anybody if you’re just lashing out at people, barking commands, not treating people with respect, not treating people with dignity.”

Mellul, in his text, apologized to those who felt targetted or offended even as he denied the central accusations against him. “It’s been the honor of a lifetime working with this team, and I’m so proud of everything we’ve done together,” he said. “After over three amazing years in the White House, I wanted to start a new chapter.”

Moore, whose job required her to work directly with the media during presidential trips, had a challenging relationship with the press from the get-go. Reporters raised issues on multiple occasions with the White House about how they felt Moore did not do enough to accommodate the press and did not clearly communicate travel plans, leading to unnecessary challenges, according to numerous people familiar with those conversations.

The allegations, specifically those against Mellul, underscore the occasional difficulty Biden has had in keeping to his pledge to foster a collaborative and respectful workplace environment. Ultimately, some upset with the culture on the advance team place blame on the person who oversaw it: Ryan Montoya. The director of scheduling and advance and an assistant to the president, Montoya supported Mellul getting workplace training, according to a person familiar with the situation. But six current and former Biden staffers said that he did not do enough to address the situation.

“Ryan Montoya is the head of the department who I think everyone would blame for this whole issue. People went to Ryan many times and Ryan would just laugh it off and ignore it,” said a former White House official.

Some of the current and former Biden staffers who had worked with Montoya — who was Biden’s 2020 campaign director of scheduling and advance — said he could also lash out at staffers and belittle aides in front of colleagues. But they believe that because Montoya was trusted by Anthony Bernal, adviser to first lady Jill Biden and one of the most powerful figures within the Biden White House, as well as deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini, he was shielded from discipline.

Montoya did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. Asked about the claims of Montoya mistreating staff, Bates said they “could not be further from the truth.”

“President Biden is deeply proud of his advance staff, its leadership, and Ryan Montoya — a stand-up, dedicated group whose expertise, comradery, and professionalism have been critical to his 242 domestic and 31 international trips, flawlessly executing events in unprecedented environments ranging from multiple active warzones outside American control to a once-in-a-century pandemic,” Bates said. “He’s grateful to everyone who has served and is serving on an unmatched team that represents the diversity of the country as they have fought every day to help him bring his message to the American people and the entire world.”

After POLITICO reached out to the White House for this article, roughly two dozen current and former scheduling and advance staffers, as well as people who worked closely with the advance office, contacted POLITICO to praise Montoya or Mellul. Many said that despite operating in demanding and high-pressure environments, Montoya was always professional and never lost his cool.

“I see Ryan work constantly to ensure our culture is respectful, kind and supportive. He takes care to be a steady and reliable boss who gets the backs of even the newest, most junior people — especially when they make a mistake,” a current staffer said in a text message. “I really cannot stress this enough, I think that someone is spreading lies about him.”

Another current advance staffer said they have “never once felt disrespected by Ryan or heard him raise his voice.” Neither of the current staffers wanted to be named.

Some current staffers and other people who worked with Mellul said he was incredibly talented at his job and did important work during his time at the White House, including navigating presidential events amid the Covid pandemic at the start of the administration. One current White House official who worked closely with Mellul but did not want to be named said he “was always kind, generous.” His departure, the official and others argued, would leave a big gap on Biden’s team.

“Ian is a class act and has been a pleasure to work with. He has an incredibly stressful job, and I’ve never seen him lose his temper or talk down to anyone,” said New York Times photographer Doug Mills.

Still, the current and former aides who initially spoke with POLITICO said they felt like Montoya’s approach to the job and the office culture he created was clearly at odds with Biden’s early pledge to fire staff who “treat another colleague with disrespect.”

“It’s upsetting because it’s not good for the president and the whole dignity thing is selective,” said another of the former White House staffers.

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