The White House is denying reports that claim an embittered President Joe Biden is sabotaging Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, insisting that he has consistently praised her leadership and backed her as his replacement on the Democrats' presidential ticket.
"He believes fiercely in an agenda that will move us into the future, away from unhinged divisiveness and extreme policies the country can't afford to go back to, like MAGAnomics and a national abortion ban," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said, according to the New York Post, which reported Saturday that pundits are claiming Biden has been undermining his vice president's efforts.
Critics, Bates said, "seem to have missed" when Biden "made clear he was all in" for Harris when he left the campaign.
The Post reported Saturday that political pundits are claiming that Biden has been doing little for his vice president after he endorsed her and that he has not been showing up at her campaign events because he's bitter about being forced out of his own reelection bid over concerns about his age and capabilities.
Biden has also in recent weeks differed from Harris, including delivering comments on the White House's response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, although Harris canceled an event in Las Vegas to be briefed on the Helene impact on the nation's southern states.
Biden's actions have also drawn attention from former President Donald Trump's backers, including when he donned a Trump cap during a 9/11 anniversary event and when he praised GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on how he's handled Hurricane Milton after Harris said the governor wouldn't take her calls.
Jason Meister, a Republican political strategist for the Trump campaign, claimed that Biden is "intentionally enacting revenge" on Harris for "knifing him in the back."
"He never liked her," Meister said. "The happiest he's looked in four years was when he put a red [Trump 2024] hat on after speaking with Shanksville [Pennsylvania] firefighters [last month] on 9/11. He should just come out and endorse Trump."
Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democrat strategist, said Biden is refusing to embrace Harris' campaign because he wants people to "understand who the boss still is."
"It would be absolutely ridiculous to assume that he has no resentment over how he was treated or how, frankly, he was forced out in what some would describe as a coup," said Sheinkopf. "Nobody wants to give up being president of the United States — it's the one job you don't want to leave."
Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also claimed in a Trump event in Biden's hometown of Scranton on Wednesday, that Biden may be "actually rooting" for Trump to take Pennsylvania and his hometown.
"I don't think he would have won [a second term]; but in his views, and those of his family, they probably think that they were robbed of it," said Ramaswamy.
Trump campaign spokesperson Caroline Sunshine, meanwhile, said Harris is sabotaging her own campaign "every time she speaks without a teleprompter," but insisted there is "no daylight" between Biden and Harris on policy.