President Trump’s top legal and policy aide offered a behind-the-scenes look at the “fake Oval Office” that former President Joe Biden used during several photo ops, which sparked criticism over his health. White House counselor Alina Habba shared with her half a million social media followers a tour of the replica White House rooms from the previous administration, complete with state-of-the-art lighting, screens, and teleprompters. “We’re in Biden’s fake Oval Office, everybody,” Habba said in the video posted to X.
Although Habba referred to it as the Oval Office, the set was actually styled as a generic White House room rather than the iconic semi-circular space used for major presidential events. She was positioned behind a dark wooden desk, with an American flag in the background and a blue-and-white wall sign featuring an outline of the White House’s north facade. “I now know why, I now get it,” the Trump lawyer said before directing the person behind the camera to turn around.
The stage, arranged in an auditorium at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, featured lights, teleprompters, cameras, and theater seating. After the impromptu tour, the camera returned to Habba, who then took a jab at Biden’s tenure in office. “All I can say is the last administration was a ‘disgratz,’” she added.
Throughout his presidency, Biden made use of a White House replica located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building—most notably when he received his COVID-19 vaccination during the peak of the rollout. This set was constructed in the EEOB’s South Court, just across from the real White House, and featured faux windows along with a digital display of the White House Rose Garden in full bloom. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller accused Biden of needing the room to read scripts off a teleprompter, a feature he claimed was unavailable in the actual White House.
The reason Biden uses this bizarre virtual set for televised meetings — and not an actual room like East Room, Cabinet, Oval, Roosevelt, Sit Room, etc. — is because it allows him to read a script directly from a face-on monitor (& w/out teleprompter glass that can be seen on camera),” he tweeted.
