New book reveals frustrations between Biden, Harris camps

An upcoming book from two New York Times reporters reportedly reveals tensions between President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’s teams. 

The book, “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future,” from Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, specifically reveals Harris’s concerns with her portfolio, according to excerpts obtained by Politico.

Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s communications director, blamed the tension on Harris directly, according to the book. 

“In private, Bedingfield had taken to noting that the vice presidency was not the first time in Harris’s political career that she had fallen short of sky-high expectations: Her Senate office had been messy and her presidential campaign had been a fiasco. Perhaps, she suggested, the problem was not the vice president’s staff,” the book says, per Politico. 

Bedingfield criticized the reporting in a comment to Politico. “The fact that no one working on this book bothered to call to fact check this unattributed claim tells you what you need to know,” she said. 

“Vice President Harris is a force in this administration and I have the utmost respect for the work she does every day to move the country forward,” she added.

The book described the relationship between Biden and Harris as “friendly but not close,” adding that “their weekly lunches lacked a real depth of personal and political intimacy.”

Martin and Burns also report that first lady Jill Biden was unhappy with the choice for Harris as vice president. 

“Speaking in confidence with a close adviser to her husband’s campaign, the future first lady posed a pointed question. There are millions of people in the United States, she began. Why, she asked, do we have to choose the one who attacked Joe?”

During a debate in June 2019, Harris called out Biden on his record on race, specifically his previous relationship with segregationist senators and his opposition to school busing.

The first lady’s spokesperson, Michael LaRosa, told Politico the office would not comment on books about the 2020 campaign.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

“This Will Not Pass” is scheduled for release on May 3.