Axios reports:

Current and former Biden aides are worried that the president is surrounded by a shrinking group of “yes” men and women who block negative information from getting to him.

Why it matters: Biden’s already small inner circle has shrunk further since the June 27 debate that has jeopardized Biden’s re-election campaign.

• Democrats inside and outside the White House tell Axios they’re worried that Biden isn’t receiving a 360-degree view of his — and his party’s — perilous political situation.
• In the two weeks since Biden’s disastrous debate, those concerns grew as many members of Congress found it difficult to communicate with Biden, three people familiar with the matter told Axios.
• The White House moved to address some of those concerns with stepped-up outreach to lawmakers today, in Zoom sessions with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Asian Pacific American Caucus.
• Even so, some members complained that the conversation was controlled and that questions were stifled.

Driving the news: Since the debate, Biden is relying even more on longtime advisers Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti, and Bruce Reed — a trio sometimes referred to inside the White House as “the poobahs,” “the grey hairs” and, less often, “the triumvirate.”

• The three are flush with the one currency that is most valued by Biden and his family members: loyalty. They are as close to family as staffers can get.
• The White House now is being run by “the family and staff who are effectively family,” a group that also includes the First Lady Jill Biden’s top aide Anthony Bernal and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini, according to a person familiar with the West Wing power structure.
• Bernal and Tomasini were subpoenaed this week by the GOP-led House Oversight Committee, which wants to investigate whether Biden’s staff is covering up the president’s health situation. The White House responded by saying Oversight chair James Comer (R-Ky.) was abusing his subpoena power.

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