Top White House aide urges staff to tune out ‘noise' and focus on governing during debate fallout

White House chief of staff Jeff Zients reportedly held an all-staff meeting Wednesday to urge team members to tune out the "noise" and focus on the task of governing, as senior aides scramble to contain the political fallout from President Biden’s disastrous debate performance.

Even as Zients acknowledged that the days since the Atlanta matchup between Biden and former President Trump have been challenging, the chief of staff stressed to White House aides the accomplishments and the track record of the Democratic administration and said governing will only become more crucial once the campaign season heats up, particularly after the Fourth of July holiday, The Associated Press reported, citing a White House official.

Biden himself began making personal outreach on his own, speaking privately with senior Democratic lawmakers such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Delaware Sen. Chris Coons and South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, a second White House official and others with knowledge of the conversations told the AP.

TOP DEMOCRATS RAGE OVER BIDEN'S DEBATE DEFLECTION: 'DON'T KNOW WHO'S MAKING DECISIONS'

On Capitol Hill, there is increasing anxiety as Biden has been slow to reach out to top Democrats and rank-and-file members, the AP reported, citing people familiar with ongoing conversations.

Top Democratic lawmakers also voiced their outrage to Axios about Biden dragging his feet in reaching out to the party's leadership in recent days, much less the rank-and-file facing competitive races this year. The members, who were not named in the Axios reporting, took particular issue with Biden's deflection, saying that his handling of the debate fallout, rather than the debate performance