Kamala Harris hit back at claims she is being misused as vice president, saying she doesn’t feel like she’s under utilized by President Joe Biden and his team.
‘No. I don’t,’ she told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired on Good Morning America Thursday morning. ‘I am very, very excited about the work that we have accomplished but I am also absolutely, absolutely clear-eyed that there is a lot more to do and we’re going to get it done.’
She rattled off a list of her accomplishments, including the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, her recent trip to France, her work with members of Congress and her presiding over the Senate as she defended her job as vice president.
Harris’ interview came amid reports of chaos in the vice president’s office and frustration among West Wing staff with her and her team, which the White House has vigorously pushed back on, denying Harris is being sidelined as her poll numbers sink.
Kamala Harris hit back at claims she is being under used as vice president in an interview with ABC News
In the interview with ABC News, Vice President Harris stressed her strong relationship with President Joe Biden – the two are seen above Monday at the signing of the bipartisan infrastructure bill
The White House has gone full throat with their defense of her after a CNN report claimed Biden was distancing himself from Harris because of her sliding poll numbers while the vice president felt isolated.
Harris and Biden put on a show of force at Monday’s signing of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The two walked out onto the South Lawn together and exchanged hugs.
Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain tweeted Harris is an ‘incredible leader’ and White House press secretary Jen Pskai argued Harris receives more criticism because of her status as a woman of color. Harris is the country’s first female and first black vice president.
Harris stressed in ABC interview her strong relationship with Biden and down played her low poll numbers. Only 28% of registered voters in a USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll this month approved of her job performance.
‘Polls, they go up, they go down,’ Harris said. ‘But I think what is most important is that we remain consistent with what we need to do to deal with the issues that we’re presented with at this moment.’
She also said she and Biden have not spoken about the 2024 presidential race.
‘Absolutely not,’ she said when Stephanpolous asked if Biden told her he would seek a second term.
The president has publicly said he intends to run again. And there has been anonymous chatter among Democrats that, if he does, he should consider replacing Harris. There’s additional speculation that if he doesn’t run again, Harris would not be the strongest contender to replace him. Some have suggested Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg would be a better candidate for the nomination
It took Stephanpolous two tries to get an answer out of the vice president on the 2024 question, however.
Harris began her response by listing off what she had done Wednesday – the day the interview was taped – including beginning the day with Biden at the presidential daily briefing and attending meetings.
When Stephanapolous asked her again, she said definitively it had not been discussed.
Senior Biden aides having been trying to pour cold water on the CNN article published Sunday night with background from nearly three dozen sources suggesting that Biden had ‘given up’ on Harris after a poll showed her approval at 28 percent.
Privately, Harris aides complain that she has been set up to fail, and handed a portfolio that is not commensurate with her historic status as the first woman, and first woman of color, to hold the vice president’s office.
‘They’re consistently sending her out there on losing issues in the wrong situations for her skill set,’ said a former high-level Harris aide.
Her aides also complain that on the issues that she has been given control over – such as the border crisis and voting rights – she doesn’t have White House backing to follow through.
In contrast, they say the president has been more vigorous in defending Buttigieg.
At the same time, Biden’s staff are privately disappointed with Harris over self-inflicted controversies, like her ‘awkward’ laughter when asked about visiting the border by NBC’s Lester Holt.
President Biden and Vice President Harris hugged it out at Monday’s infrastructure bill signing
Psaki said on Wednesday evening that Harris is judged with a higher bar being a woman and a woman of color. She slammed the vice president’s Republican critics.
‘I do think it’s been easier and harsher from some on the right-wing who have gone after her because she is the first woman, the first woman of color,’ Psaki told Politico in an interview.
Psaki said that while it may never be acknowledged publicly there is ‘no question’ that the attacks on Harris are in part because she’s a first ‘many times over.’
‘It’s a lot to have on your shoulders,’ Psaki said, adding that while Harris wants to be seen as the ‘talented, experienced expert, substantive policy person, partner to the president’ that she is, instead some of the attacks are ‘beyond’ – and they’re because of her identity.