A new book has revealed that there was friction between President Joe Biden and his vice Kamala Harris in the first months of their administration. The book titled the first “The Fight of His Life,” details Biden’s first two years in office and how he was angry at Harris.
According to the book, Biden was displeased after he received word that second gentleman Douglas Emhoff was not happy about Harris’ policy portfolio. Some of Harris’ allies felt the portfolio was harming the vice president politically.
“Biden was annoyed,” the book’s author Chris Whipple wrote. “He hadn’t asked Harris to do anything he hadn’t done as vice president — and she’d begged him for the voting rights assignment.”
According to Politico’s West Wing Playbook — a guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration — Whipple obtained extensive access to Biden administration officials while writing the book.
The book claimed Biden had vented his frustration about Harris, telling a friend the vice president was still a “work in progress.”
From veteran journalist @ccwhip (author of THE SPYMASTERS) comes THE FIGHT OF HIS LIFE, the inside look into the @JoeBiden presidency–based on the author’s extraordinary access to the White House during two years at home and abroad.
Pre-order now! https://t.co/5MBCXeVHLj pic.twitter.com/4Ftm6seoFU
— Scribner (@ScribnerBooks) December 5, 2022
The book stated further that Biden was not alone in his anger at Harris. One senior White House adviser told Whipple that Harris’ circle did not serve her well during the presidential campaign and that trend was continued into the Biden-Harris administration.
White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson issued a statement in response to the claims in Whipple’s book.
“We respect that there will be no shortage of books written about the administration containing a wide variety of claims,” said Patterson. “We don’t plan to engage in confirmations or denials when it comes to the specifics of those claims. The author did not give us a chance to verify the materials that are attributed here,” she added.
Whipple’s book is not the first to reveal deep issues between Biden and Harris. A previous book, titled “This Will Not Pass,” revealed that there were “real and deep” tensions between the president and his vice. The book showed that the two were not as close as they seemed.
One of the book’s authors Jonathan Martin told NBC News that there was significant tension within the democratic party. The book claimed the tension is centered around whether Biden will run in 2024 and if Harris would still be his Vice.
“This pulls back, I think, the curtain on what this White house is really like,” Martin said. “The tension is deep and they are real between the VP’s office and the West Wing.”
