First Lady Jill Biden is facing her first political scandal after her press secretary resigned under mysterious circumstances.
Now, the former press secretary, Michael LaRosa, was rumored to have been fired due in 2022 because of a sex scandal led to a breach of security at an international hotel.
LaRosa tried to sneak a would-be lover into a secure area in the hotel the U.S. president was staying out while on an international trip, according to some insiders’ remarks to the Daily Mail Thursday.
“He was caught by Secret Service not once, but twice bringing dates to a secure floor, obviously putting the First Lady’s safety at risk because you’re not supposed to bring people in who are not fully vetted,” one White House staffer told the Mail.
Another staffer added, “It wasn’t like he was fired the next day, but it was made clear to him that it was time for him to leave.”
LaRosa himself has confirmed the report but disputed some of the details. For example, he told the Mail that he wasn’t secretly fired, but claimed he left the First Lady’s staff to take a job as a lobbyist.
“I left because I got a job offer,” he said.
He also said that he brought home only one person, not too: A staffer representing another world leader. LaRosa did not specify which country.
“I did go on a date,” LaRosa said. “We met at the conference… He worked for another country’s delegation. And we went out for drinks.”
“I hope I’m allowed to go on dates in my free time. The Secret Service, as you know, does a lot worse,” La Rosa added. “I’m a single person who brought somebody back to my room or tried to bring somebody back to my room, as embarrassing as that is to be discussing.”
LaRosa said that he was stopped by the Secret Service from carrying out the tryst.
He recalled —
We had to go through a perimeter outside of the hotel, and a magnetometer to get into the hotel because the public was staying there too… And then when you get off the elevator, there’s another checkpoint and they let us in there fine. But when I got to the stairway that you go up, they just said it was too late to bring anybody up to the staff floor that I was on.
They got mad, I guess, that I tried to bring somebody up, but they didn’t say I couldn’t… They said it was too late. And I just wasn’t going to argue with them. So I was like, ‘Okay.’ We just went downstairs and had a drink in the lobby with a bunch of other people…
There was no violation… Even if it was twice, which it was not, we’re talking about me, an adult, going out and meeting somebody consensually for like dinner or drinks and bringing them back to a staff floor, which is done all the time, and frequently, whether it’s family or whoever.
Since leaving the White House, LaRosa has distanced himself from the Biden administration.
He’s worked for two different lobbying firms, including one founded by a big donor to Donald Trump’s conservative campaign for president. He’s been called “the first Biden administration official to join the mostly Republican firm.”
Plus, LaRosa — a P.R. professional — has publicly criticized the Biden administration’s response to the scandal involving Hunter Biden’s business dealings.
LaRosa accused the Secret Service insider of planting these reports just to retaliate.
“I guess they’re mad that I can be critical sometimes of the strategy for the president and the campaign staff,” LaRosa told the paper.
“They want to do things to try to make me stop talking or going on TV or saying things in print that are critical. I get it, it comes with the territory when you try to be objective instead of a knee jerk partisan. Washington’s a tough place. But I’m a really small fish in the pond, I would think. I don’t know why they care so much what I say.”
I've been a squeaky wheel for months arguing this is the wrong approach to GOP attacks on Biden's integrity, reputation, + family. Poll after poll validates everything I've been saying+writing for months. Changing his team now will look like he actually cares+sees same #'s we do
— Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosaDC) November 8, 2023
The Horn editorial team