Senior Democrats close to former President Biden are reportedly privately warning former Vice President Kamala Harris to avoid criticizing him — or face the release of unflattering accounts from their time in the White House.
Political commentator Mark Halperin told Newsmax’s The Chris Salcedo Show on Wednesday that members of Biden’s inner circle have grown increasingly frustrated with Harris and are prepared to go public with stories they believe could damage her politically.
“What some Biden folks have said to me is Kamala Harris better stay on the reservation,” Halperin explained. “She better stay on the good side of Joe Biden and his team. Otherwise, they’re prepared to tell the stories that they know that at least one Biden official described as Palinesque.”
According to Halperin, tensions between Biden and Harris are not new. From the earliest days of the administration, the president’s aides were concerned enough about the possibility that Harris might have to assume the presidency that they launched a crash course in presidential readiness.
“The Biden folks, at the beginning of the administration, found that Kamala Harris needed a big pressure, a big briefing, series of briefings,” Halperin said. “They spent a lot of time getting her to meet with world leaders, policy briefings to try to make sure that she was ready to be president in case Joe Biden had to step aside or left office for some other reason. Now they know all those stories.”
Halperin suggested that if Harris uses her forthcoming memoir to criticize Biden — directly or indirectly — his team will not hesitate to leak accounts of those early days, including their assessments of her readiness.
Harris’ book, 107 Days, is expected to cover her failed presidential run, her decision not to pursue the California governorship, and her views on what she calls a “broken system.” The vice president has framed her career as one built through decades in public office, from San Francisco district attorney to U.S. senator.
But her political prospects have dimmed since losing the 2024 race to President Donald Trump. Among major Democratic donors and strategists, enthusiasm for a possible Harris 2028 bid is low.
Many point to her $1.5 billion campaign spending spree — marked by high-cost media buys and celebrity events — as a cautionary tale of poor political management.
The apparent willingness of Biden allies to undercut Harris underscores an often-overlooked dynamic inside the Democratic Party: loyalty to the president can be conditional, and intra-party disputes are not always kept behind closed doors.
While Biden’s team has long presented a united public front, Halperin’s account paints a picture of a White House where the vice president was viewed as a potential liability — and where her survival within the party’s upper ranks could depend on her ability to avoid alienating her former running mate.
For Harris, the stakes are high. With her political future uncertain and the book set to reignite debate over her tenure, the message from Biden’s camp is unmistakable: tread carefully, or risk the consequences.
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