During Thursday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president.
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NewsTranscript
00:00So after President Biden said he was going to step aside
00:06and endorse Vice President Harris,
00:10Democrats quickly coalesced around Vice President Harris.
00:15I was wondering if President Biden sought assurances
00:20from other leading Democratic candidates
00:24that they would challenge her, that they wouldn't challenge her.
00:27I'm not going to get into specifics or behind-the-scenes conversation.
00:30I'm just not.
00:31And also, that's kind of on the campaign, the political side,
00:34so I'm going to be careful from here.
00:36Look, I think it's important that what we saw the first 48 hours,
00:4024 hours, 48 hours after the President decided not to run,
00:44the coalescing of support behind the Vice President,
00:47which is not surprising.
00:48She has been a partner, a critical partner to this President
00:51in everything that we have been able to successfully get done,
00:55some historic items that we've been able to get done.
00:58She's been a critical partner to this President.
01:00She has four years, almost four years of experience as Vice President,
01:03also as a senator, also as attorney general.
01:06She has an impressive resume, and I have said this before,
01:11and I'll say it again, I do not see, and the President obviously did not see,
01:14anyone else who would be more qualified to step in.
01:17And so it is not surprising that she got the support that she has
01:22and continues to get.
01:24And the President certainly is going to continue to support her.
01:29Jeff.
01:30Thanks, Karine.
01:31The President praised Vice President Harris last night in his address
01:34as a good partner and a strong leader.
01:37Will he have any objections if she starts creating a little bit of distance
01:41with him on any policy areas?
01:44Look, certainly I can't speak to how she's going to move forward
01:49with her campaign on policy issues.
01:51That's something that the campaign would have to address directly.
01:54I would say, again, kind of repeating myself
01:58but saying this in a little bit different way,
02:00the last four years has been very successful policy-wise.
02:05They've been able to get things done.
02:07They've been able to turn around the economy.
02:09We have not to forget, we should not forget what happened
02:12when the President and the Vice President stepped into their roles.
02:15They stepped into the presidency, the administration.
02:19We had a once-in-a-century pandemic that the President turned us around.
02:23And with the help of the Vice President,
02:25you think about the American Rescue Plan,
02:27you think about Inflation Reduction Act, many of these legislations,
02:30she played a role in getting it across the aisle.
02:33She also presides in the Senate.
02:36She really gave us some really important votes in getting things done.
02:42So they've been partners in this.
02:44I don't want to get into hypotheticals here about how she's going to move
02:48forward with her campaign, but you think about crime,
02:52you think about health care, you think about the economy,
02:55you think about immigration and the successes that we have seen
02:58in those particular areas, and that's just a few.
03:01Foreign policy, she's been a partner in that.
03:04Sure, and she'll no doubt have to run on the record that they have together,
03:09but the relationship has changed a little bit.
03:11She's not just a supporter Vice President now,
03:14she's also the candidate for the party going forward in the election.
03:19So if she decides to show a little bit more of her own views on Gaza,
03:24for example, is the President okay with that?
03:27Look, a hypothetical that I don't want to go down a rabbit hole in,
03:31what I say is that the President respects the Vice President.
03:37He endorsed her, believing that, as I said, passing the torch,
03:42the next generation of new voices, that she was more than qualified to do the job,
03:47more than qualified to step in on day one, as he said himself.
03:51I'm just repeating him.
03:53And I think that says volumes coming from a President who's been a senator,
03:58who's been a Vice President, who knows how this place works,
04:02who knows how Congress works, now who knows what it's like to be President
04:05of the United States.
04:07I think that is – I think coming from this President says a lot.
04:13I don't want to get into hypotheticals here.
04:16They are – pretty much have been hand in glove, if you will,
04:20these past four years on getting things done, on the different policy issues,
04:24and I suspect that will continue.