Feud erupts between Harris campaign and White House
Apparently, Vice President Kamala Harris's employees are not happy with the President Joe Biden's White House.
Whether Harris, the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, also feels this way is less clear.
This is all according to a new report from Axios, titled, "Tensions rise between Harris and Biden teams as election nears."
If true, then this could prove to be problematic for Harris's election chances.
The details
For its report, Axios cites "10 people familiar with the situation."
It appears that some of the tension between team Harris and team Biden may stem from the fact that Harris took Biden's spot in the 2024 presidential election. The sources suggest that Biden's team is retaliating by not doing all that it could to help out Harris's campaign.
Axios writes:
Some on the Harris team say that top White House aides aren't sufficiently coordinating Biden's messaging and schedule to align with what's best for the vice president's campaign. Biden gave an impromptu press conference in the White House briefing room Friday just as Harris was about to do an event in Michigan, ensuring that her event would get less TV coverage than it otherwise would have.
The outlet goes on to cite other examples of Biden doing something that could be perceived as hurting Harris's campaign.
A member of Harris campaign, in response, alleged, "The White House is lacking someone in the room thinking first and foremost about how things would affect the campaign."
Is it on purpose?
This is the big question: whether Biden is doing some of these things on purpose to retaliate against Harris for taking his spot on 2024 ballots.
The answer is unclear. Axios, citing its sources, reports that Biden, despite his recent actions, does want Harris to win.
The outlet reports:
Biden's team wants Harris to win the election, but many senior Biden aides remain wounded by the president being pushed out of his re-election bid and are still adjusting to being in a supporting role on the campaign trail.
In response to all of this, the White House has released a statement.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates denied any tension, saying,
President Biden endorsed Vice President Harris immediately after leaving the race, rejecting other approaches that would divide the party, and has attested to her leadership abilities and continually made clear his support for her. While ensuring that all critical White House functions are fully staffed, we have made significant changes to guarantee the vice president's team has all of the support and resources that they need.