2 months ago
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It's unusual to mention a vice president's presence at high-profile meeting but since Kamala Harris is running for the president amid questions over her credibility, the White House is now mentioning her name in the meetings that she was present at, Politico reported examining official documents and transcripts. Harris joined calls with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, national security adviser Jake Sullivan mentioned at a news conference in China.
“Vice President Harris has been a central member of the Biden foreign policy team, a leading member, and has been part of the design and execution of the overall strategy in the Indo-Pacific,” Sullivan said and this name-checking stood out as unusual.
"POLITICO’s review of pool reports, readouts, transcripts of administration briefings and comments by the nation’s top diplomats and military officials found that the administration increased its mentions of Harris in public statements about foreign engagements since July, when Biden announced he would drop out of the presidential election and endorsed his vice president," the Politico report said.
On August 1, there was a phone call between Biden and Netanyahu. The noting said: "Vice President Harris also joined the call". The report said between October 7, the days of the Hamas attack on Israel and July 25 this year -- there was not a single mention of Kamala Harris in the official summaries.
Halie Soifer who served Kamala Harris said it's itself significant that Kamala Harris was present in more than 20 calls between Biden and Netanyahu because generally both president and the vice president are not present on calls unless it's of critical importance.
'Biden, Harris head to situation room'
Following the death of six hostages -- including one American Hersh Goldberg-Polin-- in Gaza amid the ongoing hostage deal negotiation, Biden Monday said Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal with Hamas. The administration mentioned that Biden was heading into a Situation Room to look into the issue -- with vice president Kamala Harris.
