Inside Jon Stewart’s Secret Visits With President Obama

Jon Stewart enjoyed access to President Barack Obama that many journalists would fight tooth and nail to obtain. “The Daily Show” host met privately with the President at the White House on a number of occasions, including during the 2011 budget debate and the 2014 Ukraine crisis. “I can’t say that because Jon Stewart was unhappy policy changed,” former Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said. “But I can say that he had forceful arguments, they were arguments that we knew would be heard and deserved to be answered.”

Some claim that it was the influence of Stewart and his show that helped end major political holdups, such as a bill that would provide health benefits to those who had become ill during the clean up after 9/11 at Ground Zero. “What took us eight years of walking the halls of Congress, Jon Stewart in 22 minutes literally moved mountains and gave us a heartbeat again when we were flat lined,” Army veteran and 9/11 clean up worker John Feal said.