Top White House officials reportedly dismissed questions about the possibility of Vice President Kamala Harris having to succeed President Joe Biden before the end of his term.
In recent interviews for a new profile of Harris published by the Atlantic, the officials dismissed the questions even though Biden is 80. Biden was the oldest person to be elected president at 77 and is also the oldest sitting president the United States has ever had. Further, he is the second oldest living U.S. president, aside from 99-year-old Jimmy Carter, who is currently in hospice care.
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White House chief of staff Jeff Zients was asked by the Atlantic’s Elaina Plott Calabro about Harris’s observed traits that give him confidence in her ability as the potential president. In an initial response, he said, “Well, I want to, you know, make sure we’re not talking about anything — but, you know, she’s prepared.” As for what Zients wanted to confirm they were not discussing, it may have been worries over Biden falling ill or dying in office, a growing concern among voters due to his age.
In a more formal answer, he added that Harris has experience, good intuition, and the ability to focus and keep her team accountable.
The other interviewed White House official caught Calabro by surprise, she wrote. “People who are polling near the bottom do things and say things to try and be relevant and get oxygen,” the anonymous official, who knows both the president and vice president “well,” said when asked about Harris’s readiness for the chief executive role.
The official acknowledged, “She is the closest to the presidency,” adding, “as all of her predecessors have been.” While each vice president is second in line to the presidency, concerns over age exist to a larger extent for Biden, who would be 86 years old at the end of a second term. In recent polling, 77% of U.S. adults said Biden is too old to serve another term. In an additional survey, 74% claimed they are either “very” or “somewhat concerned” with the president’s cognitive health and his ability to serve a second term.
Harris’s conversation with the author on the topic of her preparedness for the presidency was the briefest of all three. Following an abortion rights rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, marking the first anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, she questioned the vice president about it. Calabro asked if Harris and Biden have had conversations about addressing concerns when it comes to her own readiness to take on the presidency if need be. Harris said, “No.”
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“And that was the end of the conversation,” Calabro wrote.
Republican candidates for president have seized on Harris’s record-low net favorability among vice presidents, positioning themselves as the alternative to a “president Harris,” insinuating that Biden could fall ill or die in office.
