Allies close to Joe Biden were skeptical of Kamala Harris' "readiness" in 2016, but they were willing to give her a board position at a nonprofit in a legally questionable arrangement, according to damning emails on Hunter Biden's infamous laptop.

The New York Post reported the new Biden-Harris connection.

At the time, Harris was running for the U.S. Senate and Joe Biden was eyeing a run for president that he ultimately dropped.

Harris mentioned on laptop

Harris' team offered $1,000 in exchange for donor lists from the Beau Biden Foundation, a charity named after Joe Biden's son who died from brain cancer. Josh Alcorn, Beau Biden’s top political and fundraising adviser, emailed Hunter Biden and Beau's widow, Hallie Biden, about the deal.

“Just an FYI – Kamala Harris’s campaign reached out. They’d like to pay us about $1,000 for access to the email list," Alcorn wrote in December 2015. “The money would go to the [Beau Biden] campaign, then be transferred to the foundation."

“Seems like a good thing to do, and we would work out a way to get some names and emails from her once her general election is over,” he added.

Later, Alcorn sent another email listing Harris as a possible board member. Harris never accepted the board position.

Violating campaign limits

It's not unusual for campaigns to share donor lists, but it would have been a different story with the Beau Biden Foundation because of its tax-exempt status, experts told the New York Post.  

It's also possible that the arrangement skirted FEC limits capping contributions between campaigns at $2,000. The donor list was likely worth more than $1,000, former FEC commissioner Hans von Spakovsky noted.

“They’re not charging the fair market value and that’s the way the FEC looks at things like this,” he said.

Not "ready"

Vice president Harris has quickly coalesced Democrats behind her 2024 presidential campaign after the party's elites shoved Biden aside in a ruthless coup this summer.

Biden himself was reportedly skeptical that Harris could beat Trump, and emails from Hunter's laptop show that this skepticism is not new in his circle.

"No great choices,” former Biden press secretary Alexander Mackler wrote in a 2015 email about possible running mates for Biden.

“Almost has to be a woman,” Mackler added. "Can’t be Kamala (she has a campaign and she’s [sic] doesn’t pass the ‘ready’ test).”

Since launching her 2024 bid, Democrats have sought to present Harris as a fresh face, despite her role as vice president under Biden for the past three and a half years. With these emails, it appears Harris' ties to Biden go even deeper than previously thought.