Kamala Harris: Jill Biden is said to have expressed a lack of understanding about the election of the US Vice President

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Jill Biden (left) and Kamala Harris at the inauguration in January 2021

Photo: POOL / REUTERS

The relationship between US President Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris is “friendly but not close” – at least according to a new book by New York Times journalists Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin.

Taken by itself, the anecdote about the alleged working atmosphere in the White House should not cause anyone any concern.

As reported by the Guardian, among others, there are further indications in the work that things have not always gone smoothly between the Biden and Harris teams.

For example, Biden's wife, First Lady Jill Biden, is said to have complained in the past that Harris had been chosen as vice president.

“There are millions of people in the United States.

Why… do we have to pick the one who attacked Joe,” Biden is said to have asked.

The comment therefore referred to Harris' criticism of Biden in June 2019. At that time she had criticized the Democrat for his rejection of "bussing" in the 1970s.

Bussing is the term used in the United States to describe the transport of black children to schools in predominantly white neighborhoods by school bus.

This measure, launched in the 1950s and widely criticized, was intended to counteract racial segregation.

Meanwhile, the first lady downplayed the significance of the alleged statements.

"Many books will be written about the 2020 election campaign, with a number of retelling of the events," said Jill Biden's spokesman Michael Larosa for the "Politico" news portal.

Some of these retellings are "accurate, others inaccurate."

Joe Biden's communications chief, Kate Bedingfield, said no one called to verify the "unsubstantiated claims" after reports of tensions with Harris's team.

According to authors Burns and Martin, however, Harris' team is frustrated after more than a year in office.

Allies of America's first black woman vice president complained about the "impossible" tasks she had to accomplish.

After taking office, Biden entrusted Harris with solving the immigration issue at the US southern border.

The book "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future" will be published in May and deals, among other things, with the presidential election campaign between Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump.

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