Karine Jean-Pierre’s top 10 tussles of 2024 as White House press secretary thumbnail

Karine Jean-Pierre’s top 10 tussles of 2024 as White House press secretary

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had a difficult job in 2024, defending President Joe Biden as he spiraled out of his own reelection bid.

Biden followed that up by going back on his word about pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, putting Jean-Pierre in a bind, and often forcing her to face off with reporters in the James S. Brady briefing room and aboard Air Force One, even as her boss faded from the spotlight.

Here are the top 10 tussles of 2024 between Jean-Pierre and reporters:

1. ‘How big of a headache’ is Hunter Biden?

The younger Biden was a frequent topic of conversation in press briefings, one in which Jean-Pierre rarely had an easy answer.

Hunter Biden made a surprise visit to Congress in January, and reporters were curious whether he had been hanging out at the White House.

“Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill — how big of a headache is that for you?” Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked.

She refused to elaborate on whether Hunter Biden stayed at the White House and made the oft-repeated point that he makes his own decisions.

“Hunter Biden is a private citizen,” Jean-Pierre responded after chuckling at Doocy’s question. “He is not a member of the White House, as you know, and I just don’t have anything else to share.”

It did not end there. Doocy noted Jean-Pierre’s earlier statement that Joe Biden was familiar with what his son would say when he skipped a congressional subpoena to make a public statement on Dec. 13, 2023.

“He doesn’t help with his business, but does help him skirt congressional subpoenas?” Doocy asked.

Jean-Pierre did not laugh at that one, calling it “incredibly disingenuous” and “a jump” that is “not even true.”

2. ‘You’re upset because the president has notecards?’

The press secretary got her own quip when asked about Joe Biden’s reliance on notecards during public appearances.

“You’re upset because the president has notecards?” she shot back at the reporter.

Channelling Allen Iverson, she added, “You’re asking me a question about the president having notecards?”

“Answer his question,” another reporter, Newsmax’s James Rosen, shouted.

“I’m not speaking to you right now, James,” Jean-Pierre replied. “But thank you so much for interjecting.”

3. ‘That is an incredibly offensive question to ask’

One of Jean-Pierre’s most heated moments came outside of the briefing room and with a non-White House media personality.

During an interview with Charlotte’s WBT radio, she took offense to questions about dementia and high prices, then appeared to hang up the phone.

When asked by host Mark Garrison if Biden had dementia, Jean-Pierre called the question “offensive” and “insulting.”

“I can’t even believe you’re asking me this question,” she said. “That is an incredibly offensive question to ask. For the past several years, the president’s physician has laid out in a comprehensive way the president’s health. This is a president who, if you watch him every day, if you really pay attention to his record and what he has done, you will see exactly how focused he’s been on the American people, how historic his actions have been.”

After answering the inflation question, she said, “Have an amazing day,” and ended the spot.

The White House responded to the report of Jean-Pierre hanging up the phone, saying the radio station “artificially attached a sound effect that our phones do not make.”

4. ‘Cheap fakes’

One of Jean-Pierre’s most infamous talking points came in June, when she said clips of Biden appearing to zone out or wander off were “cheap fakes,” a play on the term “deepfake.”

Not only that, she singled out conservative news outlets for spreading them.

“The right-wing critics of the president have a credibility problem,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. “It tells you everything we need to know about how desperate Republicans are. Instead of talking about the president’s performance in office, we’re seeing these deepfakes, these manipulated videos.”

Most of the clips were not manipulated or otherwise edited except for length.

“What they’re doing is pure bad faith, and it’s been fact-checked by many, including conservative media,” she said.

Days later, Biden’s weakened condition was confirmed during his disastrous debate performance against President-elect Donald Trump. Jean-Pierre was undeterred, saying, “I don’t regret it at all.”

5. ‘That’s inappropriate’

When Biden’s fitness for office took center stage in the summer, Jean-Pierre got an assist from White House Correspondents’ Association President Kelly O’Donnell.

O’Donnell, an NBC reporter, began to ask if Biden could address the press himself inside the briefing room.

Rosen, of Newsmax, chimed in, “If he’s awake.”

“That’s inappropriate,” O’Donnell snapped back. Jean-Pierre then jumped into the fray.

“As you heard from your colleague, the president of the WHCA, that’s inappropriate,” she said, albeit with a slight smile on her face. “Thank you, Kelly.”

6. ‘It doesn’t matter how hard you push me’

Tensions boiled over in the weeks between Biden’s June 27 debate and July 21, when he dropped his reelection bid.

By July 8, reports surfaced that Dr. Kevin Cannard, a specialist in Parkinson’s disease, had visited the White House eight times in eight months.

When Jean-Pierre was pressed for specifics about those visits, things got testy.

In one particularly heated exchange, Ed O’Keefe of CBS News repeatedly asked the press secretary to “state very clearly yes or no” if any of Cannard’s trips to the White House were to treat the president.

Instead of answering the question directly, Jean-Pierre told the assembled reporters that Biden had undergone three neurological exams since entering office as part of his annual physicals — but she declined to elaborate on Cannard’s trips, saying she was bound by personal security concerns.

“It doesn’t matter how hard you push me. It doesn’t matter how angry you get with me from here,” Jean-Pierre added after O’Keefe voiced additional frustration with “how information has been shared with the press corps.”

“Has the president been treated for Parkinson’s? No,” she declared. “Is he being treated for Parkinson’s? No. Is he taking medication for Parkinson’s? No.”

7. ‘She was not a border czar’

Biden took some pressure off his deputy by dropping out of the race, only for the spotlight to shine on Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also part of his administration.

Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre about the vice president’s involvement at the border.

“Democrats on Capitol Hill are being handed this card with talking points about the vice president and the border,” Doocy said as he held up a flier. He told the press secretary that the first talking point said, “Vice President Harris was never appointed border czar. There’s never been such a position, it doesn’t exist.”

The White House press secretary denied knowledge about the talking points while agreeing that the position never existed.

“We are going to debunk the false characterization of the vice president,” she said. “She was not a border czar. Independent fact-checkers have said the same thing, that that did not exist, and that that is not true.”

She also pushed back against the premise of the question.

“Why are Republicans so sensitive about actually not owning up to them getting in the way of a border deal? Why?” she pushed back. “Why won’t they own up to that? Why won’t they own up to the last president who told them not to move forward?”

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S TOP 2023 TUSSLES WITH WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS

8. ‘He was not calling Trump supporters garbage’

Jean-Pierre was forced to deny the obvious after Biden called Trump supporters “garbage” in the waning days of the 2024 election. Reporters quickly got on her case about it, and she rejected the accusations.

“Just to clarify, he was not calling Trump supporters garbage, which is why he wanted to make sure that he put out a statement that clarified what he meant and what he was trying to say,” she said.

Reporters repeatedly grilled Jean-Pierre over Biden’s mistake, however, asking if he regretted the comments or if the president had been reading from a script of prepared remarks.

She declined to “get into specifics” and said clarification was only needed “to make sure that his words were not taken out of context.”

“I said this already, and I’ll say it again: from Day One, this president has always said that he would be a president for all Americans,” Jean-Pierre said.

She did not say whether Biden apologized to Harris for stepping on her campaign’s message.

9. The ‘only person’ to beat Trump

When Harris lost to Trump on Nov. 5, Jean-Pierre responded to hostile questions about Biden by pointing to the scoreboard.

She was asked in a harsh tone whether Biden and his team showed “arrogance” in believing that only he could beat Trump, and responded by asserting that the president remains the lone candidate to do so.

“This is the president who has been the only person who has been able to beat Donald Trump,” Karine Jean-Pierre said, shrugging her shoulders for emphasis. “That is true. In 2020, he was able to do that.”

“There were more than 20 candidates who tried to beat” Trump, she said, including GOP primary challengers in the tally. Biden “was the only one that has been able to do that.”

10. ‘There’ll be more to come’

The press secretary’s year ended the same way it started — with a controversy surrounding Hunter Biden.

In December, it was because his father went back on his word and issued him a sweeping pardon covering any known or unknown crimes over an 11-year period.

Joe Biden never took questions from the press on the matter, leaving Jean-Pierre to bear the brunt of the criticism.

“I know what I said,” Jean-Pierre told reporters, referring to her own role in denying that a pardon would happen. “I know what the president said. That is where we were at the time. That is where the president was at the time. … He wrestled with it and made this decision. … Circumstances have changed.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Reporters kept asking about it, leading her to concede that additional pardons could be forthcoming.

“Certainly, the president is looking at, you know, reviewing next steps, and there’ll be more to come,” she said. If they do, Jean-Pierre could face at least one more hostile press briefing before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, 2025.

2024-12-27 10:00:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3255758%2Fkarine-jean-pierre-top-10-tussles-reporters-2024%2F?w=600&h=450, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had a difficult job in 2024, defending President Joe Biden as he spiraled out of his own reelection bid. Biden followed that up by going back on his word about pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, putting Jean-Pierre in a bind, and often forcing her to face off with reporters,

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had a difficult job in 2024, defending President Joe Biden as he spiraled out of his own reelection bid.

Biden followed that up by going back on his word about pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, putting Jean-Pierre in a bind, and often forcing her to face off with reporters in the James S. Brady briefing room and aboard Air Force One, even as her boss faded from the spotlight.

Here are the top 10 tussles of 2024 between Jean-Pierre and reporters:

1. ‘How big of a headache’ is Hunter Biden?

The younger Biden was a frequent topic of conversation in press briefings, one in which Jean-Pierre rarely had an easy answer.

Hunter Biden made a surprise visit to Congress in January, and reporters were curious whether he had been hanging out at the White House.

“Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill — how big of a headache is that for you?” Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked.

She refused to elaborate on whether Hunter Biden stayed at the White House and made the oft-repeated point that he makes his own decisions.

“Hunter Biden is a private citizen,” Jean-Pierre responded after chuckling at Doocy’s question. “He is not a member of the White House, as you know, and I just don’t have anything else to share.”

It did not end there. Doocy noted Jean-Pierre’s earlier statement that Joe Biden was familiar with what his son would say when he skipped a congressional subpoena to make a public statement on Dec. 13, 2023.

“He doesn’t help with his business, but does help him skirt congressional subpoenas?” Doocy asked.

Jean-Pierre did not laugh at that one, calling it “incredibly disingenuous” and “a jump” that is “not even true.”

2. ‘You’re upset because the president has notecards?’

The press secretary got her own quip when asked about Joe Biden’s reliance on notecards during public appearances.

“You’re upset because the president has notecards?” she shot back at the reporter.

Channelling Allen Iverson, she added, “You’re asking me a question about the president having notecards?”

“Answer his question,” another reporter, Newsmax’s James Rosen, shouted.

“I’m not speaking to you right now, James,” Jean-Pierre replied. “But thank you so much for interjecting.”

3. ‘That is an incredibly offensive question to ask’

One of Jean-Pierre’s most heated moments came outside of the briefing room and with a non-White House media personality.

During an interview with Charlotte’s WBT radio, she took offense to questions about dementia and high prices, then appeared to hang up the phone.

When asked by host Mark Garrison if Biden had dementia, Jean-Pierre called the question “offensive” and “insulting.”

“I can’t even believe you’re asking me this question,” she said. “That is an incredibly offensive question to ask. For the past several years, the president’s physician has laid out in a comprehensive way the president’s health. This is a president who, if you watch him every day, if you really pay attention to his record and what he has done, you will see exactly how focused he’s been on the American people, how historic his actions have been.”

After answering the inflation question, she said, “Have an amazing day,” and ended the spot.

The White House responded to the report of Jean-Pierre hanging up the phone, saying the radio station “artificially attached a sound effect that our phones do not make.”

4. ‘Cheap fakes’

One of Jean-Pierre’s most infamous talking points came in June, when she said clips of Biden appearing to zone out or wander off were “cheap fakes,” a play on the term “deepfake.”

Not only that, she singled out conservative news outlets for spreading them.

“The right-wing critics of the president have a credibility problem,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. “It tells you everything we need to know about how desperate Republicans are. Instead of talking about the president’s performance in office, we’re seeing these deepfakes, these manipulated videos.”

Most of the clips were not manipulated or otherwise edited except for length.

“What they’re doing is pure bad faith, and it’s been fact-checked by many, including conservative media,” she said.

Days later, Biden’s weakened condition was confirmed during his disastrous debate performance against President-elect Donald Trump. Jean-Pierre was undeterred, saying, “I don’t regret it at all.”

5. ‘That’s inappropriate’

When Biden’s fitness for office took center stage in the summer, Jean-Pierre got an assist from White House Correspondents’ Association President Kelly O’Donnell.

O’Donnell, an NBC reporter, began to ask if Biden could address the press himself inside the briefing room.

Rosen, of Newsmax, chimed in, “If he’s awake.”

“That’s inappropriate,” O’Donnell snapped back. Jean-Pierre then jumped into the fray.

“As you heard from your colleague, the president of the WHCA, that’s inappropriate,” she said, albeit with a slight smile on her face. “Thank you, Kelly.”

6. ‘It doesn’t matter how hard you push me’

Tensions boiled over in the weeks between Biden’s June 27 debate and July 21, when he dropped his reelection bid.

By July 8, reports surfaced that Dr. Kevin Cannard, a specialist in Parkinson’s disease, had visited the White House eight times in eight months.

When Jean-Pierre was pressed for specifics about those visits, things got testy.

In one particularly heated exchange, Ed O’Keefe of CBS News repeatedly asked the press secretary to “state very clearly yes or no” if any of Cannard’s trips to the White House were to treat the president.

Instead of answering the question directly, Jean-Pierre told the assembled reporters that Biden had undergone three neurological exams since entering office as part of his annual physicals — but she declined to elaborate on Cannard’s trips, saying she was bound by personal security concerns.

“It doesn’t matter how hard you push me. It doesn’t matter how angry you get with me from here,” Jean-Pierre added after O’Keefe voiced additional frustration with “how information has been shared with the press corps.”

“Has the president been treated for Parkinson’s? No,” she declared. “Is he being treated for Parkinson’s? No. Is he taking medication for Parkinson’s? No.”

7. ‘She was not a border czar’

Biden took some pressure off his deputy by dropping out of the race, only for the spotlight to shine on Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also part of his administration.

Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre about the vice president’s involvement at the border.

“Democrats on Capitol Hill are being handed this card with talking points about the vice president and the border,” Doocy said as he held up a flier. He told the press secretary that the first talking point said, “Vice President Harris was never appointed border czar. There’s never been such a position, it doesn’t exist.”

The White House press secretary denied knowledge about the talking points while agreeing that the position never existed.

“We are going to debunk the false characterization of the vice president,” she said. “She was not a border czar. Independent fact-checkers have said the same thing, that that did not exist, and that that is not true.”

She also pushed back against the premise of the question.

“Why are Republicans so sensitive about actually not owning up to them getting in the way of a border deal? Why?” she pushed back. “Why won’t they own up to that? Why won’t they own up to the last president who told them not to move forward?”

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S TOP 2023 TUSSLES WITH WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS

8. ‘He was not calling Trump supporters garbage’

Jean-Pierre was forced to deny the obvious after Biden called Trump supporters “garbage” in the waning days of the 2024 election. Reporters quickly got on her case about it, and she rejected the accusations.

“Just to clarify, he was not calling Trump supporters garbage, which is why he wanted to make sure that he put out a statement that clarified what he meant and what he was trying to say,” she said.

Reporters repeatedly grilled Jean-Pierre over Biden’s mistake, however, asking if he regretted the comments or if the president had been reading from a script of prepared remarks.

She declined to “get into specifics” and said clarification was only needed “to make sure that his words were not taken out of context.”

“I said this already, and I’ll say it again: from Day One, this president has always said that he would be a president for all Americans,” Jean-Pierre said.

She did not say whether Biden apologized to Harris for stepping on her campaign’s message.

9. The ‘only person’ to beat Trump

When Harris lost to Trump on Nov. 5, Jean-Pierre responded to hostile questions about Biden by pointing to the scoreboard.

She was asked in a harsh tone whether Biden and his team showed “arrogance” in believing that only he could beat Trump, and responded by asserting that the president remains the lone candidate to do so.

“This is the president who has been the only person who has been able to beat Donald Trump,” Karine Jean-Pierre said, shrugging her shoulders for emphasis. “That is true. In 2020, he was able to do that.”

“There were more than 20 candidates who tried to beat” Trump, she said, including GOP primary challengers in the tally. Biden “was the only one that has been able to do that.”

10. ‘There’ll be more to come’

The press secretary’s year ended the same way it started — with a controversy surrounding Hunter Biden.

In December, it was because his father went back on his word and issued him a sweeping pardon covering any known or unknown crimes over an 11-year period.

Joe Biden never took questions from the press on the matter, leaving Jean-Pierre to bear the brunt of the criticism.

“I know what I said,” Jean-Pierre told reporters, referring to her own role in denying that a pardon would happen. “I know what the president said. That is where we were at the time. That is where the president was at the time. … He wrestled with it and made this decision. … Circumstances have changed.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Reporters kept asking about it, leading her to concede that additional pardons could be forthcoming.

“Certainly, the president is looking at, you know, reviewing next steps, and there’ll be more to come,” she said. If they do, Jean-Pierre could face at least one more hostile press briefing before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, 2025.

, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had a difficult job in 2024, defending President Joe Biden as he spiraled out of his own reelection bid. Biden followed that up by going back on his word about pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, putting Jean-Pierre in a bind, and often forcing her to face off with reporters in the James S. Brady briefing room and aboard Air Force One, even as her boss faded from the spotlight. Here are the top 10 tussles of 2024 between Jean-Pierre and reporters: 1. ‘How big of a headache’ is Hunter Biden? The younger Biden was a frequent topic of conversation in press briefings, one in which Jean-Pierre rarely had an easy answer. Hunter Biden made a surprise visit to Congress in January, and reporters were curious whether he had been hanging out at the White House. “Hunter Biden on Capitol Hill — how big of a headache is that for you?” Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked. She refused to elaborate on whether Hunter Biden stayed at the White House and made the oft-repeated point that he makes his own decisions. “Hunter Biden is a private citizen,” Jean-Pierre responded after chuckling at Doocy’s question. “He is not a member of the White House, as you know, and I just don’t have anything else to share.” It did not end there. Doocy noted Jean-Pierre’s earlier statement that Joe Biden was familiar with what his son would say when he skipped a congressional subpoena to make a public statement on Dec. 13, 2023. “He doesn’t help with his business, but does help him skirt congressional subpoenas?” Doocy asked. Jean-Pierre did not laugh at that one, calling it “incredibly disingenuous” and “a jump” that is “not even true.” 2. ‘You’re upset because the president has notecards?’ The press secretary got her own quip when asked about Joe Biden’s reliance on notecards during public appearances. “You’re upset because the president has notecards?” she shot back at the reporter. Channelling Allen Iverson, she added, “You’re asking me a question about the president having notecards?” “Answer his question,” another reporter, Newsmax’s James Rosen, shouted. “I’m not speaking to you right now, James,” Jean-Pierre replied. “But thank you so much for interjecting.” 3. ‘That is an incredibly offensive question to ask’ One of Jean-Pierre’s most heated moments came outside of the briefing room and with a non-White House media personality. During an interview with Charlotte’s WBT radio, she took offense to questions about dementia and high prices, then appeared to hang up the phone. LISTEN: KJP hangs up on a Charlotte, North Carolina radio host after being asked if Joe Biden has dementia and about high gas prices and high grocery prices. pic.twitter.com/eu69qAQhVH — Conservative War Machine (@WarMachineRR) March 26, 2024 When asked by host Mark Garrison if Biden had dementia, Jean-Pierre called the question “offensive” and “insulting.” “I can’t even believe you’re asking me this question,” she said. “That is an incredibly offensive question to ask. For the past several years, the president’s physician has laid out in a comprehensive way the president’s health. This is a president who, if you watch him every day, if you really pay attention to his record and what he has done, you will see exactly how focused he’s been on the American people, how historic his actions have been.” After answering the inflation question, she said, “Have an amazing day,” and ended the spot. The White House responded to the report of Jean-Pierre hanging up the phone, saying the radio station “artificially attached a sound effect that our phones do not make.” 4. ‘Cheap fakes’ One of Jean-Pierre’s most infamous talking points came in June, when she said clips of Biden appearing to zone out or wander off were “cheap fakes,” a play on the term “deepfake.” Not only that, she singled out conservative news outlets for spreading them. “The right-wing critics of the president have a credibility problem,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. “It tells you everything we need to know about how desperate Republicans are. Instead of talking about the president’s performance in office, we’re seeing these deepfakes, these manipulated videos.” Most of the clips were not manipulated or otherwise edited except for length. “What they’re doing is pure bad faith, and it’s been fact-checked by many, including conservative media,” she said. Days later, Biden’s weakened condition was confirmed during his disastrous debate performance against President-elect Donald Trump. Jean-Pierre was undeterred, saying, “I don’t regret it at all.” 5. ‘That’s inappropriate’ When Biden’s fitness for office took center stage in the summer, Jean-Pierre got an assist from White House Correspondents’ Association President Kelly O’Donnell. O’Donnell, an NBC reporter, began to ask if Biden could address the press himself inside the briefing room. Rosen, of Newsmax, chimed in, “If he’s awake.” “That’s inappropriate,” O’Donnell snapped back. Jean-Pierre then jumped into the fray. “We would invite the President to tell us directly” “If he’s awake” “That’s innapropriate” pic.twitter.com/7ik6k18jsu — Brennan Murphy (@brenonade) July 3, 2024 “As you heard from your colleague, the president of the WHCA, that’s inappropriate,” she said, albeit with a slight smile on her face. “Thank you, Kelly.” 6. ‘It doesn’t matter how hard you push me’ Tensions boiled over in the weeks between Biden’s June 27 debate and July 21, when he dropped his reelection bid. By July 8, reports surfaced that Dr. Kevin Cannard, a specialist in Parkinson’s disease, had visited the White House eight times in eight months. When Jean-Pierre was pressed for specifics about those visits, things got testy. In one particularly heated exchange, Ed O’Keefe of CBS News repeatedly asked the press secretary to “state very clearly yes or no” if any of Cannard’s trips to the White House were to treat the president. Instead of answering the question directly, Jean-Pierre told the assembled reporters that Biden had undergone three neurological exams since entering office as part of his annual physicals — but she declined to elaborate on Cannard’s trips, saying she was bound by personal security concerns. “It doesn’t matter how hard you push me. It doesn’t matter how angry you get with me from here,” Jean-Pierre added after O’Keefe voiced additional frustration with “how information has been shared with the press corps.” “Has the president been treated for Parkinson’s? No,” she declared. “Is he being treated for Parkinson’s? No. Is he taking medication for Parkinson’s? No.” 7. ‘She was not a border czar’ Biden took some pressure off his deputy by dropping out of the race, only for the spotlight to shine on Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also part of his administration. Doocy pressed Jean-Pierre about the vice president’s involvement at the border. “Democrats on Capitol Hill are being handed this card with talking points about the vice president and the border,” Doocy said as he held up a flier. He told the press secretary that the first talking point said, “Vice President Harris was never appointed border czar. There’s never been such a position, it doesn’t exist.” The White House press secretary denied knowledge about the talking points while agreeing that the position never existed. “We are going to debunk the false characterization of the vice president,” she said. “She was not a border czar. Independent fact-checkers have said the same thing, that that did not exist, and that that is not true.” KJP: “We are going to debunk the false characterization of the vice president. She was not a border czar. And it’s not just us. Independent fact-checkers have said the same thing, that that did not exist.” pic.twitter.com/ghL56XZ4Qt — TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 25, 2024 She also pushed back against the premise of the question. “Why are Republicans so sensitive about actually not owning up to them getting in the way of a border deal? Why?” she pushed back. “Why won’t they own up to that? Why won’t they own up to the last president who told them not to move forward?” Doocy: Why are Democrats so sensitive about VP and the border? KJP: Why are Republican so sensitive about not owning up to them getting in the way of the border deal? pic.twitter.com/qfL4In2dZj — Acyn (@Acyn) July 25, 2024 KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S TOP 2023 TUSSLES WITH WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS 8. ‘He was not calling Trump supporters garbage’ Jean-Pierre was forced to deny the obvious after Biden called Trump supporters “garbage” in the waning days of the 2024 election. Reporters quickly got on her case about it, and she rejected the accusations. “Just to clarify, he was not calling Trump supporters garbage, which is why he wanted to make sure that he put out a statement that clarified what he meant and what he was trying to say,” she said. Reporters repeatedly grilled Jean-Pierre over Biden’s mistake, however, asking if he regretted the comments or if the president had been reading from a script of prepared remarks. She declined to “get into specifics” and said clarification was only needed “to make sure that his words were not taken out of context.” “I said this already, and I’ll say it again: from Day One, this president has always said that he would be a president for all Americans,” Jean-Pierre said. She did not say whether Biden apologized to Harris for stepping on her campaign’s message. 9. The ‘only person’ to beat Trump When Harris lost to Trump on Nov. 5, Jean-Pierre responded to hostile questions about Biden by pointing to the scoreboard. She was asked in a harsh tone whether Biden and his team showed “arrogance” in believing that only he could beat Trump, and responded by asserting that the president remains the lone candidate to do so. “This is the president who has been the only person who has been able to beat Donald Trump,” Karine Jean-Pierre said, shrugging her shoulders for emphasis. “That is true. In 2020, he was able to do that.” Reporter asks Karine Jean-Pierre about whether Biden and his team showed “arrogance of believing he was the only one who could beat Donald Trump”: “This is the president who has been the only person has been able to beat Donald Trump.” pic.twitter.com/nptAI03ZGt — The Recount (@therecount) November 7, 2024 “There were more than 20 candidates who tried to beat” Trump, she said, including GOP primary challengers in the tally. Biden “was the only one that has been able to do that.” 10. ‘There’ll be more to come’ The press secretary’s year ended the same way it started — with a controversy surrounding Hunter Biden. In December, it was because his father went back on his word and issued him a sweeping pardon covering any known or unknown crimes over an 11-year period. Joe Biden never took questions from the press on the matter, leaving Jean-Pierre to bear the brunt of the criticism. “I know what I said,” Jean-Pierre told reporters, referring to her own role in denying that a pardon would happen. “I know what the president said. That is where we were at the time. That is where the president was at the time. … He wrestled with it and made this decision. … Circumstances have changed.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Reporters kept asking about it, leading her to concede that additional pardons could be forthcoming. “Certainly, the president is looking at, you know, reviewing next steps, and there’ll be more to come,” she said. If they do, Jean-Pierre could face at least one more hostile press briefing before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, 2025., , Karine Jean-Pierre’s top 10 tussles of 2024 as White House press secretary, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Karine-Jean-Pierre-2024.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,

Harris and Walz, avoiding press, interview each other and discuss ‘white guy tacos’ thumbnail

Harris and Walz, avoiding press, interview each other and discuss ‘white guy tacos’

Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) have not given a full press conference or media interview since entering the presidential campaign, but they did sit down and interview each other in Detroit.

In the 10-minute spot, the pair discussed music, football, and “white guy tacos” at Aretha’s Jazz Cafe. The engagement was edited into a video, which the Harris campaign released Thursday.

“Like, I have white guy tacos,” Walz said at the beginning.

“What is that, like mayonnaise and tuna?” Harris responded. “What are you doing?”

“Pretty much ground beef and cheese,” Walz asnwered.

Harris then asked if he puts any flavor on them, and Walz said he was told to let Harris know that black pepper is at the top of the spice level in Minnesota.

The video comes as the Trump campaign amps up pressure on Harris to speak to the media in an unscripted format and release more policy details about her plans if elected. GOP vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), has started using the tagline, “Kamala Harris isn’t running a presidential campaign. She’s producing a movie.”

In the video, the two Democrats joke about how the Minnesota governor missed the call from Harris when she asked him to be her running mate. They also talked about their mostly divergent tastes in music.

Walz is a big fan of Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 album The River along with Bob Seger’s 1976 effort Night Moves. Harris said she grew up on Detroit legend Aretha Franklin, along with Stevie Wonder and jazz legends Miles Davis and John Coltrane. In her younger days, Harris was a fan of Minnesota-based artist Prince, though Walz did not seem to perk up at the name.

Harris asked Walz about his father, a Korean war veteran who died when Walz was just 19 years old. That left Walz’s mother collecting Social Security survivor benefits, which he described as “the boots” on which he pulled himself up by his bootstraps.

“We’ve got to help people get through a hard time,” Harris said after hearing the story. “We can’t have a country and policies that let people fall through the cracks.”

However, detailed policy discussions or governing details were not part of the clip, which also included tales of Walz’s days as a football coach and Harris’s decision to become an attorney.

She said some of the biggest heroes of the civil rights movement were lawyers such as Thurgood Marshall, who “understood how to translate the passion from the streets to the courtrooms of our country” and “believed in the Constitution of the United States and the principles upon which it was founded.”

Walz said he and Harris represent the underdog campaign, though they are actually leading in the RealClearPolitics polling average by a narrow margin.

“With our joy, we also have to understand that we’re still up against some forces that are trying to divide our country,” Harris said. “It pains me the kind of division and the stoking of divisions that has taken place, right? And when we can remind people and create a space for everyone to come where they see each other and say, ‘hey, we’re all in this together.’”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Walz described the phenomenon as similar to people coming out of their houses for the first time after a Minnesota blizzard.

“I talk about it being halftime in America,” Walz said. “We’re a touchdown down because for a lot of folks, it’s easier to tear things down, it’s easier to divide than it is to build. But once you start that momentum, once we come out where we’re at right now, people want to be part of something that’s winning.”

2024-08-15 20:19:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3123168%2Fharris-walz-interview-white-guy-tacos%2F?w=600&h=450, Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) have not given a full press conference or media interview since entering the presidential campaign, but they did sit down and interview each other in Detroit. In the 10-minute spot, the pair discussed music, football, and “white guy tacos” at Aretha’s Jazz Cafe. The engagement was,

Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) have not given a full press conference or media interview since entering the presidential campaign, but they did sit down and interview each other in Detroit.

In the 10-minute spot, the pair discussed music, football, and “white guy tacos” at Aretha’s Jazz Cafe. The engagement was edited into a video, which the Harris campaign released Thursday.

“Like, I have white guy tacos,” Walz said at the beginning.

“What is that, like mayonnaise and tuna?” Harris responded. “What are you doing?”

“Pretty much ground beef and cheese,” Walz asnwered.

Harris then asked if he puts any flavor on them, and Walz said he was told to let Harris know that black pepper is at the top of the spice level in Minnesota.

The video comes as the Trump campaign amps up pressure on Harris to speak to the media in an unscripted format and release more policy details about her plans if elected. GOP vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), has started using the tagline, “Kamala Harris isn’t running a presidential campaign. She’s producing a movie.”

In the video, the two Democrats joke about how the Minnesota governor missed the call from Harris when she asked him to be her running mate. They also talked about their mostly divergent tastes in music.

Walz is a big fan of Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 album The River along with Bob Seger’s 1976 effort Night Moves. Harris said she grew up on Detroit legend Aretha Franklin, along with Stevie Wonder and jazz legends Miles Davis and John Coltrane. In her younger days, Harris was a fan of Minnesota-based artist Prince, though Walz did not seem to perk up at the name.

Harris asked Walz about his father, a Korean war veteran who died when Walz was just 19 years old. That left Walz’s mother collecting Social Security survivor benefits, which he described as “the boots” on which he pulled himself up by his bootstraps.

“We’ve got to help people get through a hard time,” Harris said after hearing the story. “We can’t have a country and policies that let people fall through the cracks.”

However, detailed policy discussions or governing details were not part of the clip, which also included tales of Walz’s days as a football coach and Harris’s decision to become an attorney.

She said some of the biggest heroes of the civil rights movement were lawyers such as Thurgood Marshall, who “understood how to translate the passion from the streets to the courtrooms of our country” and “believed in the Constitution of the United States and the principles upon which it was founded.”

Walz said he and Harris represent the underdog campaign, though they are actually leading in the RealClearPolitics polling average by a narrow margin.

“With our joy, we also have to understand that we’re still up against some forces that are trying to divide our country,” Harris said. “It pains me the kind of division and the stoking of divisions that has taken place, right? And when we can remind people and create a space for everyone to come where they see each other and say, ‘hey, we’re all in this together.’”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Walz described the phenomenon as similar to people coming out of their houses for the first time after a Minnesota blizzard.

“I talk about it being halftime in America,” Walz said. “We’re a touchdown down because for a lot of folks, it’s easier to tear things down, it’s easier to divide than it is to build. But once you start that momentum, once we come out where we’re at right now, people want to be part of something that’s winning.”

, Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) have not given a full press conference or media interview since entering the presidential campaign, but they did sit down and interview each other in Detroit. In the 10-minute spot, the pair discussed music, football, and “white guy tacos” at Aretha’s Jazz Cafe. The engagement was edited into a video, which the Harris campaign released Thursday. “Like, I have white guy tacos,” Walz said at the beginning. “What is that, like mayonnaise and tuna?” Harris responded. “What are you doing?” “Pretty much ground beef and cheese,” Walz asnwered. Harris then asked if he puts any flavor on them, and Walz said he was told to let Harris know that black pepper is at the top of the spice level in Minnesota. The video comes as the Trump campaign amps up pressure on Harris to speak to the media in an unscripted format and release more policy details about her plans if elected. GOP vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), has started using the tagline, “Kamala Harris isn’t running a presidential campaign. She’s producing a movie.” Kamala Harris isn’t running a presidential campaign. She’s producing a movie. Everything is scripted everywhere she goes. She’s fundamentally a fake person who changes her tune depending on what audience she’s in front of. pic.twitter.com/HrCKF9XXSM — JD Vance (@JDVance) August 11, 2024 In the video, the two Democrats joke about how the Minnesota governor missed the call from Harris when she asked him to be her running mate. They also talked about their mostly divergent tastes in music. Walz is a big fan of Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 album The River along with Bob Seger’s 1976 effort Night Moves. Harris said she grew up on Detroit legend Aretha Franklin, along with Stevie Wonder and jazz legends Miles Davis and John Coltrane. In her younger days, Harris was a fan of Minnesota-based artist Prince, though Walz did not seem to perk up at the name. Harris asked Walz about his father, a Korean war veteran who died when Walz was just 19 years old. That left Walz’s mother collecting Social Security survivor benefits, which he described as “the boots” on which he pulled himself up by his bootstraps. “We’ve got to help people get through a hard time,” Harris said after hearing the story. “We can’t have a country and policies that let people fall through the cracks.” However, detailed policy discussions or governing details were not part of the clip, which also included tales of Walz’s days as a football coach and Harris’s decision to become an attorney. She said some of the biggest heroes of the civil rights movement were lawyers such as Thurgood Marshall, who “understood how to translate the passion from the streets to the courtrooms of our country” and “believed in the Constitution of the United States and the principles upon which it was founded.” Walz said he and Harris represent the underdog campaign, though they are actually leading in the RealClearPolitics polling average by a narrow margin. “With our joy, we also have to understand that we’re still up against some forces that are trying to divide our country,” Harris said. “It pains me the kind of division and the stoking of divisions that has taken place, right? And when we can remind people and create a space for everyone to come where they see each other and say, ‘hey, we’re all in this together.’” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Walz described the phenomenon as similar to people coming out of their houses for the first time after a Minnesota blizzard. “I talk about it being halftime in America,” Walz said. “We’re a touchdown down because for a lot of folks, it’s easier to tear things down, it’s easier to divide than it is to build. But once you start that momentum, once we come out where we’re at right now, people want to be part of something that’s winning.”, , Harris and Walz, avoiding press, interview each other and discuss ‘white guy tacos’, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Harris_Walz_7764_1_2.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,

What Kamala Harris’s last debate says about her chances against Trump thumbnail

What Kamala Harris’s last debate says about her chances against Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris is taking heat for her media blackout on the campaign trail, but her last run for office gives some clues as to what voters can expect when she does take the stage without a script.

Harris debated then-Vice President Mike Pence for 90 minutes in Utah on Oct. 7, 2020, with USA Today’s Susan Page acting as moderator. If that performance is any indicator, GOP nominee former President Donald Trump should prepare for Harris to go on offense on Sept. 10.

Harris hit Pence six times with her signature “I’m speaking” line, a phrase she used most recently to shut down anti-Israel protesters and one that’s sure to feature against Trump if moderators cannot cut the candidates’ microphones.

“I’ve traveled the world; I’ve met with our soldiers in war zones,” Harris said in the early going. “I think Joe [Biden] has asked me to serve with him because he knows that we share a purpose, which is about lifting up the American people.”

Harris has agreed to debate Trump on Sept. 10 on ABC, with Trump pushing for two more debates that would take place on Sept. 4 on Fox and Sept. 25 on NBC.

If the Fox date doesn’t materialize, the ABC debate will be the first for Harris in almost four years. For Trump, it will be the first debate since his June 27 matchup with President Joe Biden that ended up knocking the Democratic candidate out of the race, leading to the rise of Harris.

While much has been made of the various campaign promises Harris made during her Democratic primary debates in 2019, less attention has been paid to her most recent debate performance, which came in late 2020 against Pence.

As with the 2020 presidential debates, viewers today may be surprised at the extent to which COVID-19 dominated the discussion in the vice presidential contest. The Salt Lake City audience was socially distanced and masked, Pence and Harris sat 12 feet apart yet still had two plexiglass dividers placed between them, and more than 15 minutes passed before Page asked her first non-COVID-19 question.

The debate may be best remembered for the fly that nestled on Pence’s head for more than two full minutes late in the proceedings. But elsewhere, it offers a strong clue as to what Trump can expect of Harris next month.

“The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” Harris said to start things off. “Over 7 million people have contracted this disease. One in five businesses has closed. We’re looking at front-line workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers.”

Harris, like Biden, sought to hang the pandemic around Trump’s neck from the start, saying he “covered it up,” called it a hoax, and should lose the election based on that issue alone.

Pence, now replaced on the GOP ticket by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), played defense by saying Biden’s pandemic plan didn’t differ much from Trump’s, calling it a form of plagiarism. That conversation will be off the table this time around, though other parts of the evening still look remarkably familiar in 2024.

Harris threw out an “I’m speaking” when Pence pointed out that repealing the Trump tax cuts would raise taxes on the middle class, an issue that is relevant once again in this year’s election cycle.

“On day one, Joe Biden will repeal that tax bill; he’ll get rid of it,” Harris said, while Pence argued over and over that repealing the cuts would raise middle-class taxes. Biden did not repeal the Trump tax cuts upon taking office, though Harris is now saying she will do so if elected.

Pence also pressed Harris on backing the Green New Deal and her 2019 promise to ban fracking, questions she’s facing again four years later.

“Sen. Harris, you’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts,” Pence charged. “You yourself said on multiple occasions when you were running for president that you would ban fracking.”

Harris pushed back forcefully against the claim.

“Joe Biden will not raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $400,000 a year,” Harris said. “He has been very clear about that. Joe Biden will not end fracking, he has been very clear about that. Joe Biden is the one who, during the great recession, was responsible for the Recovery Act that brought America back.”

Harris dodged on the issue of the Green New Deal, which she co-sponsored during her time in the Senate. The phrase “Green New Deal” came up 15 times in the debate. It was uttered 11 times by Pence, four times by Page, and zero times by Harris.

For those looking for word salads, Harris served up few, if any, during her matchup with Pence. She did offer an expressive debating style, with lots of eyebrow raising, head shaking, pointing, smiling, and laughing. She looked directly into the camera to help drive some of her points home to the audience.

The New Atlantis
Then-Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris participates in the vice presidential debate with Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, at Kingsbury Hall on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Harris did offer strong support for climate change policies generally, saying the Trump administration doesn’t “believe in science” and calling climate change an “existential threat to us as human beings.” Harris claimed the Trump administration’s vision “has been to go backward instead of forward,” a preview of her 2024 campaign mantra that “we are not going back.”

Some of Harris’s statements have not aged well, such as her admonition that Trump’s China tariffs cost the United States 300,000 manufacturing jobs. Once in office, Biden kept most of those tariffs in place and even raised some earlier this year. On foreign policy, she promised that Biden would “hold Russia to account,” but Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine just a year after Biden took office.

Other statements sound like something Harris could have said in her 2024 stump speeches.

“The issues before us couldn’t be more serious. There’s the issue of choice, and I will always fight for a woman’s right to make a decision about her own body,” Harris said on the hot-button topic of abortion. “It should be her decision, and not that of Donald Trump.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Overall, Harris was feisty on that October night and seemed prepared for the charges Pence flung her way, meaning Trump may be in for a tough battle when he sees her on the debate stage.

“I will not sit here and be lectured by the vice president on what it means to enforce the laws of our country,” she said when Pence accused her of being soft on crime. “I am the only one on this stage who has personally prosecuted everything from child sexual assault to homicide.”

2024-08-14 11:00:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3119794%2Fkamala-harris-debate-trump%2F?w=600&h=450, Vice President Kamala Harris is taking heat for her media blackout on the campaign trail, but her last run for office gives some clues as to what voters can expect when she does take the stage without a script. Harris debated then-Vice President Mike Pence for 90 minutes in Utah on Oct. 7, 2020, with,

Vice President Kamala Harris is taking heat for her media blackout on the campaign trail, but her last run for office gives some clues as to what voters can expect when she does take the stage without a script.

Harris debated then-Vice President Mike Pence for 90 minutes in Utah on Oct. 7, 2020, with USA Today’s Susan Page acting as moderator. If that performance is any indicator, GOP nominee former President Donald Trump should prepare for Harris to go on offense on Sept. 10.

Harris hit Pence six times with her signature “I’m speaking” line, a phrase she used most recently to shut down anti-Israel protesters and one that’s sure to feature against Trump if moderators cannot cut the candidates’ microphones.

“I’ve traveled the world; I’ve met with our soldiers in war zones,” Harris said in the early going. “I think Joe [Biden] has asked me to serve with him because he knows that we share a purpose, which is about lifting up the American people.”

Harris has agreed to debate Trump on Sept. 10 on ABC, with Trump pushing for two more debates that would take place on Sept. 4 on Fox and Sept. 25 on NBC.

If the Fox date doesn’t materialize, the ABC debate will be the first for Harris in almost four years. For Trump, it will be the first debate since his June 27 matchup with President Joe Biden that ended up knocking the Democratic candidate out of the race, leading to the rise of Harris.

While much has been made of the various campaign promises Harris made during her Democratic primary debates in 2019, less attention has been paid to her most recent debate performance, which came in late 2020 against Pence.

As with the 2020 presidential debates, viewers today may be surprised at the extent to which COVID-19 dominated the discussion in the vice presidential contest. The Salt Lake City audience was socially distanced and masked, Pence and Harris sat 12 feet apart yet still had two plexiglass dividers placed between them, and more than 15 minutes passed before Page asked her first non-COVID-19 question.

The debate may be best remembered for the fly that nestled on Pence’s head for more than two full minutes late in the proceedings. But elsewhere, it offers a strong clue as to what Trump can expect of Harris next month.

“The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” Harris said to start things off. “Over 7 million people have contracted this disease. One in five businesses has closed. We’re looking at front-line workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers.”

Harris, like Biden, sought to hang the pandemic around Trump’s neck from the start, saying he “covered it up,” called it a hoax, and should lose the election based on that issue alone.

Pence, now replaced on the GOP ticket by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), played defense by saying Biden’s pandemic plan didn’t differ much from Trump’s, calling it a form of plagiarism. That conversation will be off the table this time around, though other parts of the evening still look remarkably familiar in 2024.

Harris threw out an “I’m speaking” when Pence pointed out that repealing the Trump tax cuts would raise taxes on the middle class, an issue that is relevant once again in this year’s election cycle.

“On day one, Joe Biden will repeal that tax bill; he’ll get rid of it,” Harris said, while Pence argued over and over that repealing the cuts would raise middle-class taxes. Biden did not repeal the Trump tax cuts upon taking office, though Harris is now saying she will do so if elected.

Pence also pressed Harris on backing the Green New Deal and her 2019 promise to ban fracking, questions she’s facing again four years later.

“Sen. Harris, you’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts,” Pence charged. “You yourself said on multiple occasions when you were running for president that you would ban fracking.”

Harris pushed back forcefully against the claim.

“Joe Biden will not raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $400,000 a year,” Harris said. “He has been very clear about that. Joe Biden will not end fracking, he has been very clear about that. Joe Biden is the one who, during the great recession, was responsible for the Recovery Act that brought America back.”

Harris dodged on the issue of the Green New Deal, which she co-sponsored during her time in the Senate. The phrase “Green New Deal” came up 15 times in the debate. It was uttered 11 times by Pence, four times by Page, and zero times by Harris.

For those looking for word salads, Harris served up few, if any, during her matchup with Pence. She did offer an expressive debating style, with lots of eyebrow raising, head shaking, pointing, smiling, and laughing. She looked directly into the camera to help drive some of her points home to the audience.

The New Atlantis
Then-Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris participates in the vice presidential debate with Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, at Kingsbury Hall on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Harris did offer strong support for climate change policies generally, saying the Trump administration doesn’t “believe in science” and calling climate change an “existential threat to us as human beings.” Harris claimed the Trump administration’s vision “has been to go backward instead of forward,” a preview of her 2024 campaign mantra that “we are not going back.”

Some of Harris’s statements have not aged well, such as her admonition that Trump’s China tariffs cost the United States 300,000 manufacturing jobs. Once in office, Biden kept most of those tariffs in place and even raised some earlier this year. On foreign policy, she promised that Biden would “hold Russia to account,” but Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine just a year after Biden took office.

Other statements sound like something Harris could have said in her 2024 stump speeches.

“The issues before us couldn’t be more serious. There’s the issue of choice, and I will always fight for a woman’s right to make a decision about her own body,” Harris said on the hot-button topic of abortion. “It should be her decision, and not that of Donald Trump.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Overall, Harris was feisty on that October night and seemed prepared for the charges Pence flung her way, meaning Trump may be in for a tough battle when he sees her on the debate stage.

“I will not sit here and be lectured by the vice president on what it means to enforce the laws of our country,” she said when Pence accused her of being soft on crime. “I am the only one on this stage who has personally prosecuted everything from child sexual assault to homicide.”

, Vice President Kamala Harris is taking heat for her media blackout on the campaign trail, but her last run for office gives some clues as to what voters can expect when she does take the stage without a script. Harris debated then-Vice President Mike Pence for 90 minutes in Utah on Oct. 7, 2020, with USA Today’s Susan Page acting as moderator. If that performance is any indicator, GOP nominee former President Donald Trump should prepare for Harris to go on offense on Sept. 10. Harris hit Pence six times with her signature “I’m speaking” line, a phrase she used most recently to shut down anti-Israel protesters and one that’s sure to feature against Trump if moderators cannot cut the candidates’ microphones. “I’ve traveled the world; I’ve met with our soldiers in war zones,” Harris said in the early going. “I think Joe [Biden] has asked me to serve with him because he knows that we share a purpose, which is about lifting up the American people.” Harris has agreed to debate Trump on Sept. 10 on ABC, with Trump pushing for two more debates that would take place on Sept. 4 on Fox and Sept. 25 on NBC. If the Fox date doesn’t materialize, the ABC debate will be the first for Harris in almost four years. For Trump, it will be the first debate since his June 27 matchup with President Joe Biden that ended up knocking the Democratic candidate out of the race, leading to the rise of Harris. While much has been made of the various campaign promises Harris made during her Democratic primary debates in 2019, less attention has been paid to her most recent debate performance, which came in late 2020 against Pence. As with the 2020 presidential debates, viewers today may be surprised at the extent to which COVID-19 dominated the discussion in the vice presidential contest. The Salt Lake City audience was socially distanced and masked, Pence and Harris sat 12 feet apart yet still had two plexiglass dividers placed between them, and more than 15 minutes passed before Page asked her first non-COVID-19 question. The debate may be best remembered for the fly that nestled on Pence’s head for more than two full minutes late in the proceedings. But elsewhere, it offers a strong clue as to what Trump can expect of Harris next month. “The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” Harris said to start things off. “Over 7 million people have contracted this disease. One in five businesses has closed. We’re looking at front-line workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers.” Harris, like Biden, sought to hang the pandemic around Trump’s neck from the start, saying he “covered it up,” called it a hoax, and should lose the election based on that issue alone. Pence, now replaced on the GOP ticket by Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), played defense by saying Biden’s pandemic plan didn’t differ much from Trump’s, calling it a form of plagiarism. That conversation will be off the table this time around, though other parts of the evening still look remarkably familiar in 2024. Harris threw out an “I’m speaking” when Pence pointed out that repealing the Trump tax cuts would raise taxes on the middle class, an issue that is relevant once again in this year’s election cycle. Kamala Harris responds to Pence’s false claim that Biden will raise taxes “on day one” of his presidency: “I think this is supposed to be a debate based on fact and truth.” When Pence interrupts, she says, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking” #VPdebate https://t.co/78k94KOfNV pic.twitter.com/Ibi4lPeLg7 — CBS News (@CBSNews) October 8, 2020 “On day one, Joe Biden will repeal that tax bill; he’ll get rid of it,” Harris said, while Pence argued over and over that repealing the cuts would raise middle-class taxes. Biden did not repeal the Trump tax cuts upon taking office, though Harris is now saying she will do so if elected. Pence also pressed Harris on backing the Green New Deal and her 2019 promise to ban fracking, questions she’s facing again four years later. “Sen. Harris, you’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts,” Pence charged. “You yourself said on multiple occasions when you were running for president that you would ban fracking.” Harris pushed back forcefully against the claim. “Joe Biden will not raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $400,000 a year,” Harris said. “He has been very clear about that. Joe Biden will not end fracking, he has been very clear about that. Joe Biden is the one who, during the great recession, was responsible for the Recovery Act that brought America back.” Harris dodged on the issue of the Green New Deal, which she co-sponsored during her time in the Senate. The phrase “Green New Deal” came up 15 times in the debate. It was uttered 11 times by Pence, four times by Page, and zero times by Harris. For those looking for word salads, Harris served up few, if any, during her matchup with Pence. She did offer an expressive debating style, with lots of eyebrow raising, head shaking, pointing, smiling, and laughing. She looked directly into the camera to help drive some of her points home to the audience. Then-Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris participates in the vice presidential debate with Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, at Kingsbury Hall on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Harris did offer strong support for climate change policies generally, saying the Trump administration doesn’t “believe in science” and calling climate change an “existential threat to us as human beings.” Harris claimed the Trump administration’s vision “has been to go backward instead of forward,” a preview of her 2024 campaign mantra that “we are not going back.” Some of Harris’s statements have not aged well, such as her admonition that Trump’s China tariffs cost the United States 300,000 manufacturing jobs. Once in office, Biden kept most of those tariffs in place and even raised some earlier this year. On foreign policy, she promised that Biden would “hold Russia to account,” but Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine just a year after Biden took office. Other statements sound like something Harris could have said in her 2024 stump speeches. “The issues before us couldn’t be more serious. There’s the issue of choice, and I will always fight for a woman’s right to make a decision about her own body,” Harris said on the hot-button topic of abortion. “It should be her decision, and not that of Donald Trump.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Overall, Harris was feisty on that October night and seemed prepared for the charges Pence flung her way, meaning Trump may be in for a tough battle when he sees her on the debate stage. “I will not sit here and be lectured by the vice president on what it means to enforce the laws of our country,” she said when Pence accused her of being soft on crime. “I am the only one on this stage who has personally prosecuted everything from child sexual assault to homicide.”, , What Kamala Harris’s last debate says about her chances against Trump, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Kamala-Harris-2020-debate.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,

Zynsurrection? Walz Zyn tax in Minnesota becomes meme-worthy campaign issue thumbnail

Zynsurrection? Walz Zyn tax in Minnesota becomes meme-worthy campaign issue

Many controversies have befallen both vice presidential candidates this election cycle, but one meme-worthy criticism of Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) may threaten his popularity with a key voting demographic.

Republicans are pointing to a bill Walz signed this spring that implements a 95% tax on Zyn nicotine pouches as evidence he should not be elected.

“Kamala’s VP Wannabe Tim Walz Levied WHOPPING 95% Tax on Zyn,” Donald Trump Jr. posted on X.

Other conservative-aligned accounts followed suit, including RNC Research, and Reps. Richard Hudson (R-NC) and Mike Collins (R-GA), who quipped, “Time to riot (again) in Minneapolis.”

But jokes aside, tobacco-free nicotine pouches including Zyn and a few competitors have exploded in popularity in recent years, attracting a devoted following of mostly young men. Right-leaning influencers are among Zyn’s biggest fans.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson may be the most well-known “Zynfluencer,” speaking often of his love for the pouches, claiming to keep one in his lip almost any time he’s awake, and even receiving a gigantic replica tin via helicopter late last year.

The state-level bill Walz signed went into effect July 1 and looped Zyn into existing tobacco taxes by changing the definition of “moist snuff” to include tobacco-free products containing nicotine. The tax is 95% of the wholesale sales price or $3.04, whichever is more, and effectively doubles the price of Zyn and related products in Minnesota from $5 to $10.

If men who love Zyn balk at the idea Walz might support a similar federal tax or see it as an example “nanny state” interference, it could hurt him with the very demographics he was supposed to appeal to when selected as running mate by Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Walz controversy is not the first left-right political spat over Zyn. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called Zyn a “pouch packed with problems” in January and called for the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to investigate its marketing and health effects.

Conservatives were incensed, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) challenging Schumer to “come and take it” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene calling for a “Zynsurrection.”

Zyn enjoys a small but growing influence as an alternative to smoking. Its parent company, Philip Morris International, expects to ship at least 560 million tins of the pouches this year, up 50% from 2023 levels and up more than 600% from 2019.

While a 2023 study found Zyn doesn’t contain the cancer-causing chemicals present in tobacco, health experts caution there could still be ill health effects and worry that the products are marketed to teenagers.

“This is an attraction to youngsters so they can start as a gateway of using oral to e-cigarette to smoking,” University of Rochester Medical Center professor Irfan Rahman told North Carolina Health News.

The political controversy over Zyn echoes the Biden-Harris administration’s call to ban menthol cigarettes two years ago. The FDA proposed banning menthols and flavored cigars in April 2022 but announced it had delayed the ban beyond the election amid reports of backlash from the black community.

As both Trump and Harris promise to eliminate taxes on tipped wages, Walz’s Zyn tax could also fold into criticisms that the Democratic ticket wants to raise taxes on working- and middle-class voters.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

As Minnesota governor, Walz slashed some tax deductions, created a surtax on capital gains, implemented a sales tax on cannabis, and created a payroll tax to fund the state’s paid family and medical leave program.

A few Democrats, most notably Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) oppose cracking down on Zyn, with Fetterman saying, “I’m going to err on the side of more freedom and personal choices. … I made that same argument when I wanted to legalize marijuana.”

2024-08-13 00:42:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3118502%2Fzynsurrection-walz-zyn-tax-minnesota%2F?w=600&h=450, Many controversies have befallen both vice presidential candidates this election cycle, but one meme-worthy criticism of Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) may threaten his popularity with a key voting demographic. Republicans are pointing to a bill Walz signed this spring that implements a 95% tax on Zyn nicotine pouches as evidence he should not be elected.,

Many controversies have befallen both vice presidential candidates this election cycle, but one meme-worthy criticism of Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) may threaten his popularity with a key voting demographic.

Republicans are pointing to a bill Walz signed this spring that implements a 95% tax on Zyn nicotine pouches as evidence he should not be elected.

“Kamala’s VP Wannabe Tim Walz Levied WHOPPING 95% Tax on Zyn,” Donald Trump Jr. posted on X.

Other conservative-aligned accounts followed suit, including RNC Research, and Reps. Richard Hudson (R-NC) and Mike Collins (R-GA), who quipped, “Time to riot (again) in Minneapolis.”

But jokes aside, tobacco-free nicotine pouches including Zyn and a few competitors have exploded in popularity in recent years, attracting a devoted following of mostly young men. Right-leaning influencers are among Zyn’s biggest fans.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson may be the most well-known “Zynfluencer,” speaking often of his love for the pouches, claiming to keep one in his lip almost any time he’s awake, and even receiving a gigantic replica tin via helicopter late last year.

The state-level bill Walz signed went into effect July 1 and looped Zyn into existing tobacco taxes by changing the definition of “moist snuff” to include tobacco-free products containing nicotine. The tax is 95% of the wholesale sales price or $3.04, whichever is more, and effectively doubles the price of Zyn and related products in Minnesota from $5 to $10.

If men who love Zyn balk at the idea Walz might support a similar federal tax or see it as an example “nanny state” interference, it could hurt him with the very demographics he was supposed to appeal to when selected as running mate by Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Walz controversy is not the first left-right political spat over Zyn. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called Zyn a “pouch packed with problems” in January and called for the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to investigate its marketing and health effects.

Conservatives were incensed, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) challenging Schumer to “come and take it” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene calling for a “Zynsurrection.”

Zyn enjoys a small but growing influence as an alternative to smoking. Its parent company, Philip Morris International, expects to ship at least 560 million tins of the pouches this year, up 50% from 2023 levels and up more than 600% from 2019.

While a 2023 study found Zyn doesn’t contain the cancer-causing chemicals present in tobacco, health experts caution there could still be ill health effects and worry that the products are marketed to teenagers.

“This is an attraction to youngsters so they can start as a gateway of using oral to e-cigarette to smoking,” University of Rochester Medical Center professor Irfan Rahman told North Carolina Health News.

The political controversy over Zyn echoes the Biden-Harris administration’s call to ban menthol cigarettes two years ago. The FDA proposed banning menthols and flavored cigars in April 2022 but announced it had delayed the ban beyond the election amid reports of backlash from the black community.

As both Trump and Harris promise to eliminate taxes on tipped wages, Walz’s Zyn tax could also fold into criticisms that the Democratic ticket wants to raise taxes on working- and middle-class voters.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

As Minnesota governor, Walz slashed some tax deductions, created a surtax on capital gains, implemented a sales tax on cannabis, and created a payroll tax to fund the state’s paid family and medical leave program.

A few Democrats, most notably Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) oppose cracking down on Zyn, with Fetterman saying, “I’m going to err on the side of more freedom and personal choices. … I made that same argument when I wanted to legalize marijuana.”

, Many controversies have befallen both vice presidential candidates this election cycle, but one meme-worthy criticism of Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) may threaten his popularity with a key voting demographic. Republicans are pointing to a bill Walz signed this spring that implements a 95% tax on Zyn nicotine pouches as evidence he should not be elected. “Kamala’s VP Wannabe Tim Walz Levied WHOPPING 95% Tax on Zyn,” Donald Trump Jr. posted on X. Kamala’s VP Wannabe Tim Walz Levied WHOPPING 95% Tax on Zyn.https://t.co/1GzsXDNNvS — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 9, 2024 Other conservative-aligned accounts followed suit, including RNC Research, and Reps. Richard Hudson (R-NC) and Mike Collins (R-GA), who quipped, “Time to riot (again) in Minneapolis.” But jokes aside, tobacco-free nicotine pouches including Zyn and a few competitors have exploded in popularity in recent years, attracting a devoted following of mostly young men. Right-leaning influencers are among Zyn’s biggest fans. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson may be the most well-known “Zynfluencer,” speaking often of his love for the pouches, claiming to keep one in his lip almost any time he’s awake, and even receiving a gigantic replica tin via helicopter late last year. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kyle Forgeard (@kyleforgeard) The state-level bill Walz signed went into effect July 1 and looped Zyn into existing tobacco taxes by changing the definition of “moist snuff” to include tobacco-free products containing nicotine. The tax is 95% of the wholesale sales price or $3.04, whichever is more, and effectively doubles the price of Zyn and related products in Minnesota from $5 to $10. If men who love Zyn balk at the idea Walz might support a similar federal tax or see it as an example “nanny state” interference, it could hurt him with the very demographics he was supposed to appeal to when selected as running mate by Vice President Kamala Harris. The Walz controversy is not the first left-right political spat over Zyn. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called Zyn a “pouch packed with problems” in January and called for the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to investigate its marketing and health effects. Conservatives were incensed, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) challenging Schumer to “come and take it” and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene calling for a “Zynsurrection.” Zyn enjoys a small but growing influence as an alternative to smoking. Its parent company, Philip Morris International, expects to ship at least 560 million tins of the pouches this year, up 50% from 2023 levels and up more than 600% from 2019. While a 2023 study found Zyn doesn’t contain the cancer-causing chemicals present in tobacco, health experts caution there could still be ill health effects and worry that the products are marketed to teenagers. “This is an attraction to youngsters so they can start as a gateway of using oral to e-cigarette to smoking,” University of Rochester Medical Center professor Irfan Rahman told North Carolina Health News. The political controversy over Zyn echoes the Biden-Harris administration’s call to ban menthol cigarettes two years ago. The FDA proposed banning menthols and flavored cigars in April 2022 but announced it had delayed the ban beyond the election amid reports of backlash from the black community. As both Trump and Harris promise to eliminate taxes on tipped wages, Walz’s Zyn tax could also fold into criticisms that the Democratic ticket wants to raise taxes on working- and middle-class voters. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER As Minnesota governor, Walz slashed some tax deductions, created a surtax on capital gains, implemented a sales tax on cannabis, and created a payroll tax to fund the state’s paid family and medical leave program. A few Democrats, most notably Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) oppose cracking down on Zyn, with Fetterman saying, “I’m going to err on the side of more freedom and personal choices. … I made that same argument when I wanted to legalize marijuana.”, , Zynsurrection? Walz Zyn tax in Minnesota becomes meme-worthy campaign issue, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Zyn-tax-Tim-Walz.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,

What does Kamala Harris stand for? thumbnail

What does Kamala Harris stand for?

Vice President Kamala Harris is surging in the polls and drawing enormous crowds with her “joyful warrior” presidential campaign, but where she really stands on matters remains a mystery.

“The thing that we love about hard work is we have fun doing hard work because we know what we stand for,” Harris said Thursday in Detroit. “That’s a big part of this campaign. When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We know what we stand for — we stand for the people.”

Despite that assertion, Harris’s website does not include a policy tab laying out what she plans to do if she wins in November. In contrast, the policy tab on President Joe Biden’s campaign website remains up as of Aug. 9, featuring six subsections with labels such as “building a fairer tax system that works for the middle class” and “fighting to restore reproductive freedom.”

Former President Donald Trump‘s, the GOP nominee, campaign site includes a section labeled “platform,” with 20 bullet points his team has dubbed Agenda 47.

Harris has made her stance clear on a few key matters, saying she would restore the abortion access protections that existed under Roe v. Wade and retaining Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on anyone earning under $400,000 while letting portions of the Trump tax cuts expire.

Her campaign has distanced Harris from several policy stances she took during her 2019 run for president. She no longer supports a federal jobs guarantee, no longer wants to ban fracking, no longer entertains the idea of abolishing private health insurance, and no longer backs a mandatory assault weapons buyback program. These changes have all been announced by staffers rather than Harris herself.

The Harris campaign did not respond to questions from the Washington Examiner about when it will reveal more robust policy platform details.

A related concern, at least to Harris’s critics, is that she has largely avoided speaking to the press since Biden left the race on July 20. She has done no wide-ranging interviews or press conferences and took questions from reporters for just 71 seconds on a Detroit tarmac Thursday afternoon.

Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), are trying to draw attention to Harris’s media silence, with both Trump and Vance holding solo press conferences of their own last week. Vance went so far as to approach Harris’s plane, telling reporters he thought they might get lonely since she won’t answer questions.

Conservative groups are calling her out as well.

“VP Harris’ staff is working tirelessly to avoid the press and make their candidate remotely palatable to people outside San Francisco,” Win It Back PAC President David McIntosh said.

“But even with the help of the press, her campaign won’t be able to cover up her horrible instincts and support for radical policies like raising taxes by ending Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, crippling American energy production, and making our communities less safe,” McIntosh continued.

The big question for both Harris and Trump is whether voters will care enough about policy platforms or press appearances to abandon her. Harris has overtaken Trump’s lead in the RealClearPolitics national polling average and has erased his edge in several battleground states.

Some voters may feel as if they already know enough about Harris to cast their votes, and others might simply want to keep Trump out of the White House.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been circling around this question,” The New Yorker‘s Jay Caspian King wrote last week. “Does it actually matter if Kamala Harris stands for something?”

Harris staffers recently told Politico they feel there’s no need for her to do big interviews before Labor Day. She told reporters in Detroit she’d like to schedule one before the end of August.

2024-08-10 11:00:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3116767%2Fkamala-harris-stance-policy-press%2F?w=600&h=450, Vice President Kamala Harris is surging in the polls and drawing enormous crowds with her “joyful warrior” presidential campaign, but where she really stands on matters remains a mystery. “The thing that we love about hard work is we have fun doing hard work because we know what we stand for,” Harris said Thursday in,

Vice President Kamala Harris is surging in the polls and drawing enormous crowds with her “joyful warrior” presidential campaign, but where she really stands on matters remains a mystery.

“The thing that we love about hard work is we have fun doing hard work because we know what we stand for,” Harris said Thursday in Detroit. “That’s a big part of this campaign. When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We know what we stand for — we stand for the people.”

Despite that assertion, Harris’s website does not include a policy tab laying out what she plans to do if she wins in November. In contrast, the policy tab on President Joe Biden’s campaign website remains up as of Aug. 9, featuring six subsections with labels such as “building a fairer tax system that works for the middle class” and “fighting to restore reproductive freedom.”

Former President Donald Trump‘s, the GOP nominee, campaign site includes a section labeled “platform,” with 20 bullet points his team has dubbed Agenda 47.

Harris has made her stance clear on a few key matters, saying she would restore the abortion access protections that existed under Roe v. Wade and retaining Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on anyone earning under $400,000 while letting portions of the Trump tax cuts expire.

Her campaign has distanced Harris from several policy stances she took during her 2019 run for president. She no longer supports a federal jobs guarantee, no longer wants to ban fracking, no longer entertains the idea of abolishing private health insurance, and no longer backs a mandatory assault weapons buyback program. These changes have all been announced by staffers rather than Harris herself.

The Harris campaign did not respond to questions from the Washington Examiner about when it will reveal more robust policy platform details.

A related concern, at least to Harris’s critics, is that she has largely avoided speaking to the press since Biden left the race on July 20. She has done no wide-ranging interviews or press conferences and took questions from reporters for just 71 seconds on a Detroit tarmac Thursday afternoon.

Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), are trying to draw attention to Harris’s media silence, with both Trump and Vance holding solo press conferences of their own last week. Vance went so far as to approach Harris’s plane, telling reporters he thought they might get lonely since she won’t answer questions.

Conservative groups are calling her out as well.

“VP Harris’ staff is working tirelessly to avoid the press and make their candidate remotely palatable to people outside San Francisco,” Win It Back PAC President David McIntosh said.

“But even with the help of the press, her campaign won’t be able to cover up her horrible instincts and support for radical policies like raising taxes by ending Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, crippling American energy production, and making our communities less safe,” McIntosh continued.

The big question for both Harris and Trump is whether voters will care enough about policy platforms or press appearances to abandon her. Harris has overtaken Trump’s lead in the RealClearPolitics national polling average and has erased his edge in several battleground states.

Some voters may feel as if they already know enough about Harris to cast their votes, and others might simply want to keep Trump out of the White House.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been circling around this question,” The New Yorker‘s Jay Caspian King wrote last week. “Does it actually matter if Kamala Harris stands for something?”

Harris staffers recently told Politico they feel there’s no need for her to do big interviews before Labor Day. She told reporters in Detroit she’d like to schedule one before the end of August.

, Vice President Kamala Harris is surging in the polls and drawing enormous crowds with her “joyful warrior” presidential campaign, but where she really stands on matters remains a mystery. “The thing that we love about hard work is we have fun doing hard work because we know what we stand for,” Harris said Thursday in Detroit. “That’s a big part of this campaign. When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We know what we stand for — we stand for the people.” Despite that assertion, Harris’s website does not include a policy tab laying out what she plans to do if she wins in November. In contrast, the policy tab on President Joe Biden’s campaign website remains up as of Aug. 9, featuring six subsections with labels such as “building a fairer tax system that works for the middle class” and “fighting to restore reproductive freedom.” Former President Donald Trump‘s, the GOP nominee, campaign site includes a section labeled “platform,” with 20 bullet points his team has dubbed Agenda 47. Harris has made her stance clear on a few key matters, saying she would restore the abortion access protections that existed under Roe v. Wade and retaining Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on anyone earning under $400,000 while letting portions of the Trump tax cuts expire. Her campaign has distanced Harris from several policy stances she took during her 2019 run for president. She no longer supports a federal jobs guarantee, no longer wants to ban fracking, no longer entertains the idea of abolishing private health insurance, and no longer backs a mandatory assault weapons buyback program. These changes have all been announced by staffers rather than Harris herself. The Harris campaign did not respond to questions from the Washington Examiner about when it will reveal more robust policy platform details. A related concern, at least to Harris’s critics, is that she has largely avoided speaking to the press since Biden left the race on July 20. She has done no wide-ranging interviews or press conferences and took questions from reporters for just 71 seconds on a Detroit tarmac Thursday afternoon. Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), are trying to draw attention to Harris’s media silence, with both Trump and Vance holding solo press conferences of their own last week. Vance went so far as to approach Harris’s plane, telling reporters he thought they might get lonely since she won’t answer questions. Conservative groups are calling her out as well. “VP Harris’ staff is working tirelessly to avoid the press and make their candidate remotely palatable to people outside San Francisco,” Win It Back PAC President David McIntosh said. “But even with the help of the press, her campaign won’t be able to cover up her horrible instincts and support for radical policies like raising taxes by ending Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, crippling American energy production, and making our communities less safe,” McIntosh continued. The big question for both Harris and Trump is whether voters will care enough about policy platforms or press appearances to abandon her. Harris has overtaken Trump’s lead in the RealClearPolitics national polling average and has erased his edge in several battleground states. Some voters may feel as if they already know enough about Harris to cast their votes, and others might simply want to keep Trump out of the White House. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER “For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been circling around this question,” The New Yorker‘s Jay Caspian King wrote last week. “Does it actually matter if Kamala Harris stands for something?” Harris staffers recently told Politico they feel there’s no need for her to do big interviews before Labor Day. She told reporters in Detroit she’d like to schedule one before the end of August., , What does Kamala Harris stand for?, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Kamala-Harries-policies.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,

Harris makes union pitch at UAW in Michigan: ‘Good to be in the house of labor’ thumbnail

Harris makes union pitch at UAW in Michigan: ‘Good to be in the house of labor’

Vice President Kamala Harris sharpened her pitch to labor unions in a Thursday speech at the United Auto Workers headquarters.

“It’s good to be in the house of labor!” Harris said before a backdrop of the UAW logo superimposed on a cinderblock wall.

The New Atlantis
Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential nominee, with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Democratic vice presidential nominee, left, speaks at a campaign rally at UAW Local 900, Thursday, August 8, 2024, in Wayne, Michigan. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Unions are traditionally strong financial and organizing backers of Democrats, and most labor groups have switched from endorsing President Joe Biden in this year’s election to supporting Harris. While Biden often called himself the most pro-union president in history, Harris laid out her own labor bonafides Thursday.

“It’s about the collective. It’s about understanding no one should ever be made to fight alone,” Harris said. “I’ve fought my entire career for unions and labor because I understand the noble concept behind collective bargaining.”

That concept, she continued, is fairness.

“When you’re talking about the individual and a big company, and you require that one individual to negotiate against the big company, how is that outcome going to be fair?” she asked rhetorically. “So collective bargaining is about saying, ‘let the collective come together around a common experience.’”

UAW president Shawn Fain introduced Harris, describing the candidate and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), as “working class people” and thus “one of us.” Walz, in his remarks, said the UAW headquarters is holy ground for unions and implored union members to work hard over the next 89 days to get Harris elected. He warned that GOP presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, doesn’t like the middle class.

Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), have been trying to create a problem of the fact that Harris has not done a major interview or press conference since Biden dropped out on July 20. Trump finished an hourlong press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate shortly before Harris took the stage in Michigan. He taunted that she wouldn’t be able to do the same.

Harris did not take questions from media members in the room but, like Walz, implored her supporters to work hard for the next 89 days to elect her.

“The thing that we love about hard work is we have fun doing hard work because we know what we stand for,” she said. “That’s a big part of this campaign. When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We know what we stand for — we stand for the people.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

However, Harris’s campaign has yet to release detailed policy proposals laying out her plans for a full term in the White House. She laid out what drives her campaign, but only in broad generalities.

“We stand for the dignity of work,” Harris said. “And we stand for freedom. We stand for justice. We stand for equality. And so we will fight for all of it.”

2024-08-08 21:33:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3115806%2Fharris-makes-union-pitch-uaw-michigan%2F?w=600&h=450, Vice President Kamala Harris sharpened her pitch to labor unions in a Thursday speech at the United Auto Workers headquarters. “It’s good to be in the house of labor!” Harris said before a backdrop of the UAW logo superimposed on a cinderblock wall. Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential nominee, with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN),

Vice President Kamala Harris sharpened her pitch to labor unions in a Thursday speech at the United Auto Workers headquarters.

“It’s good to be in the house of labor!” Harris said before a backdrop of the UAW logo superimposed on a cinderblock wall.

The New Atlantis
Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential nominee, with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Democratic vice presidential nominee, left, speaks at a campaign rally at UAW Local 900, Thursday, August 8, 2024, in Wayne, Michigan. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Unions are traditionally strong financial and organizing backers of Democrats, and most labor groups have switched from endorsing President Joe Biden in this year’s election to supporting Harris. While Biden often called himself the most pro-union president in history, Harris laid out her own labor bonafides Thursday.

“It’s about the collective. It’s about understanding no one should ever be made to fight alone,” Harris said. “I’ve fought my entire career for unions and labor because I understand the noble concept behind collective bargaining.”

That concept, she continued, is fairness.

“When you’re talking about the individual and a big company, and you require that one individual to negotiate against the big company, how is that outcome going to be fair?” she asked rhetorically. “So collective bargaining is about saying, ‘let the collective come together around a common experience.’”

UAW president Shawn Fain introduced Harris, describing the candidate and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), as “working class people” and thus “one of us.” Walz, in his remarks, said the UAW headquarters is holy ground for unions and implored union members to work hard over the next 89 days to get Harris elected. He warned that GOP presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, doesn’t like the middle class.

Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), have been trying to create a problem of the fact that Harris has not done a major interview or press conference since Biden dropped out on July 20. Trump finished an hourlong press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate shortly before Harris took the stage in Michigan. He taunted that she wouldn’t be able to do the same.

Harris did not take questions from media members in the room but, like Walz, implored her supporters to work hard for the next 89 days to elect her.

“The thing that we love about hard work is we have fun doing hard work because we know what we stand for,” she said. “That’s a big part of this campaign. When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We know what we stand for — we stand for the people.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

However, Harris’s campaign has yet to release detailed policy proposals laying out her plans for a full term in the White House. She laid out what drives her campaign, but only in broad generalities.

“We stand for the dignity of work,” Harris said. “And we stand for freedom. We stand for justice. We stand for equality. And so we will fight for all of it.”

, Vice President Kamala Harris sharpened her pitch to labor unions in a Thursday speech at the United Auto Workers headquarters. “It’s good to be in the house of labor!” Harris said before a backdrop of the UAW logo superimposed on a cinderblock wall. Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential nominee, with Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Democratic vice presidential nominee, left, speaks at a campaign rally at UAW Local 900, Thursday, August 8, 2024, in Wayne, Michigan. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson) Unions are traditionally strong financial and organizing backers of Democrats, and most labor groups have switched from endorsing President Joe Biden in this year’s election to supporting Harris. While Biden often called himself the most pro-union president in history, Harris laid out her own labor bonafides Thursday. “It’s about the collective. It’s about understanding no one should ever be made to fight alone,” Harris said. “I’ve fought my entire career for unions and labor because I understand the noble concept behind collective bargaining.” That concept, she continued, is fairness. “When you’re talking about the individual and a big company, and you require that one individual to negotiate against the big company, how is that outcome going to be fair?” she asked rhetorically. “So collective bargaining is about saying, ‘let the collective come together around a common experience.’” UAW president Shawn Fain introduced Harris, describing the candidate and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), as “working class people” and thus “one of us.” Walz, in his remarks, said the UAW headquarters is holy ground for unions and implored union members to work hard over the next 89 days to get Harris elected. He warned that GOP presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, doesn’t like the middle class. Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), have been trying to create a problem of the fact that Harris has not done a major interview or press conference since Biden dropped out on July 20. Trump finished an hourlong press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate shortly before Harris took the stage in Michigan. He taunted that she wouldn’t be able to do the same. Harris did not take questions from media members in the room but, like Walz, implored her supporters to work hard for the next 89 days to elect her. “The thing that we love about hard work is we have fun doing hard work because we know what we stand for,” she said. “That’s a big part of this campaign. When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We know what we stand for — we stand for the people.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER However, Harris’s campaign has yet to release detailed policy proposals laying out her plans for a full term in the White House. She laid out what drives her campaign, but only in broad generalities. “We stand for the dignity of work,” Harris said. “And we stand for freedom. We stand for justice. We stand for equality. And so we will fight for all of it.”, , Harris makes union pitch at UAW in Michigan: ‘Good to be in the house of labor’, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Kamala-Harris-UAW.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,

Secret Service denies White House cocaine report thumbnail

Secret Service denies White House cocaine report

The Secret Service has denied a report that former Director Kimberly Cheatle and other agency leaders wanted to destroy cocaine found in the White House.

“This is false. The US Secret Service takes its investigative and protective responsibilities very seriously,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. “There are retention policies for criminal investigations and the Secret Service adhered to those requirements during this case.”

A story in RealClearPolitics cited three anonymous sources within the Secret Service who claimed that Cheatle, who recently resigned in the fallout from the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, reassigned an officer who wanted to follow a specific crime scene investigative protocol after the discovery. Guglielmi’s statement did not address that aspect of the report.

Aside from the novelty of illicit drugs being found inside the executive mansion, troubled first son Hunter Biden was staying in the White House in the days before the cocaine was discovered on July 2 and then publicly reported on July 4, sparking questions about the source of the drugs.

The initial discovery triggered a brief evacuation of the White House grounds as the substance was tested to rule out the possibility it was anthrax or another deadly powder. Because the evacuation included members of the press, it became impossible to keep the discovery hidden from the public.

Cheatle was close to the Biden family, having served on Joe Biden’s protective detail during his time as vice president. She reportedly was named Secret Service director in part because of her close relationship with first lady Jill Biden.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The exact location of where the drugs were discovered was not known for several days after July 4. Initial reports held that it was found in a reference library, later that it was discovered in a work area, and then finally that it was in an area used by White House staff and tourists to store their phones.

RealClearPolitics also reported that DNA testing on the bag returned a “partial hit,” meaning it may have matched a “blood relative of a finite pool of people.” However, additional searches for DNA matches were not conducted, according to the outlet.

2024-08-06 01:29:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3111575%2Fsecret-service-denies-white-house-cocaine-report%2F?w=600&h=450, The Secret Service has denied a report that former Director Kimberly Cheatle and other agency leaders wanted to destroy cocaine found in the White House. “This is false. The US Secret Service takes its investigative and protective responsibilities very seriously,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. “There are retention policies for criminal investigations and the Secret,

The Secret Service has denied a report that former Director Kimberly Cheatle and other agency leaders wanted to destroy cocaine found in the White House.

“This is false. The US Secret Service takes its investigative and protective responsibilities very seriously,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. “There are retention policies for criminal investigations and the Secret Service adhered to those requirements during this case.”

A story in RealClearPolitics cited three anonymous sources within the Secret Service who claimed that Cheatle, who recently resigned in the fallout from the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, reassigned an officer who wanted to follow a specific crime scene investigative protocol after the discovery. Guglielmi’s statement did not address that aspect of the report.

Aside from the novelty of illicit drugs being found inside the executive mansion, troubled first son Hunter Biden was staying in the White House in the days before the cocaine was discovered on July 2 and then publicly reported on July 4, sparking questions about the source of the drugs.

The initial discovery triggered a brief evacuation of the White House grounds as the substance was tested to rule out the possibility it was anthrax or another deadly powder. Because the evacuation included members of the press, it became impossible to keep the discovery hidden from the public.

Cheatle was close to the Biden family, having served on Joe Biden’s protective detail during his time as vice president. She reportedly was named Secret Service director in part because of her close relationship with first lady Jill Biden.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The exact location of where the drugs were discovered was not known for several days after July 4. Initial reports held that it was found in a reference library, later that it was discovered in a work area, and then finally that it was in an area used by White House staff and tourists to store their phones.

RealClearPolitics also reported that DNA testing on the bag returned a “partial hit,” meaning it may have matched a “blood relative of a finite pool of people.” However, additional searches for DNA matches were not conducted, according to the outlet.

, The Secret Service has denied a report that former Director Kimberly Cheatle and other agency leaders wanted to destroy cocaine found in the White House. “This is false. The US Secret Service takes its investigative and protective responsibilities very seriously,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. “There are retention policies for criminal investigations and the Secret Service adhered to those requirements during this case.” A story in RealClearPolitics cited three anonymous sources within the Secret Service who claimed that Cheatle, who recently resigned in the fallout from the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, reassigned an officer who wanted to follow a specific crime scene investigative protocol after the discovery. Guglielmi’s statement did not address that aspect of the report. Aside from the novelty of illicit drugs being found inside the executive mansion, troubled first son Hunter Biden was staying in the White House in the days before the cocaine was discovered on July 2 and then publicly reported on July 4, sparking questions about the source of the drugs. The initial discovery triggered a brief evacuation of the White House grounds as the substance was tested to rule out the possibility it was anthrax or another deadly powder. Because the evacuation included members of the press, it became impossible to keep the discovery hidden from the public. Cheatle was close to the Biden family, having served on Joe Biden’s protective detail during his time as vice president. She reportedly was named Secret Service director in part because of her close relationship with first lady Jill Biden. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The exact location of where the drugs were discovered was not known for several days after July 4. Initial reports held that it was found in a reference library, later that it was discovered in a work area, and then finally that it was in an area used by White House staff and tourists to store their phones. RealClearPolitics also reported that DNA testing on the bag returned a “partial hit,” meaning it may have matched a “blood relative of a finite pool of people.” However, additional searches for DNA matches were not conducted, according to the outlet., , Secret Service denies White House cocaine report, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/White-House-cocaine-powder.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,

Biden administration to email all student loan holders about possible debt relief thumbnail

Biden administration to email all student loan holders about possible debt relief

If you have a federal student loan, you’ll be hearing from President Joe Biden soon.

The Biden administration will email roughly 30 million loanees this week to let them know about possible student debt relief they may be eligible for as the administration seeks to overcome courtroom challenges to its myriad cancellation programs.

“By providing more information to borrowers on how they can take advantage of our upcoming debt relief programs, borrowers will be prepared to benefit swiftly once the rules are final,” Biden said in a prepared statement. “Despite attempts led by Republican elected officials to block our efforts, we won’t stop fighting to provide relief to student loan borrowers, fix the broken student loan system, and help borrowers get out from under the burden of student debt.”

Biden has previously sent emails to loanees letting them know he has canceled their debt, though many of his proposals are tied up in court and may be overruled before becoming finalized. The administration says it has canceled student loans for 5 million people so far at a cost to taxpayers of $168 billion.

“From day one of my administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” the president said. “I will never stop working to make higher education affordable and to make sure our administration delivers for the American people.”

Student loans have been one of Biden’s most high-profile, aggressive, and controversial policy areas since taking office three years ago. His initial plan would have cost taxpayers at least $400 billion but was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court last summer. Undaunted, Biden has since rolled out additional proposals that would be similarly pricey if fully implemented.

Biden’s Department of Education says it will email every person with a federal student loan and let them know they have until Aug. 30 opt out “if they do not want this relief.”

“The rules that would provide this relief are not yet finalized, and the email does not guarantee specific borrowers will be eligible,” the department added in a press release.

The rules the administration hopes to finalize this fall would expand its cancellation efforts from 5 million to 30 million loanees.

“Today, the Biden-Harris administration takes another step forward in our drive to deliver student debt relief to borrowers who’ve been failed by a broken system,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said. “These latest steps will mark the next milestone in our efforts to help millions of borrowers who’ve been buried under a mountain of student loan interest.”

The draft rules the administration proposed in April would transfer debts for people who owe more than their initial balance, those who have had loans for more than 20 years, those who qualify for loan cancelation but have not applied, and those who enrolled in what the administration deems “low-financial value programs.”

If approved, loan cancellation would happen automatically and there would not be an application process borrowers needed to go through.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Republicans have bristled at the initiatives, and GOP-led states have filed multiple successful lawsuits seeking to block Biden’s programs.

“Joe Biden is the real threat to democracy, and that is proven by his administration’s unconstitutional attempt to override the United States Supreme Court and force taxpayers to subsidize free college for other people,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in June. “Even Nancy Pelosi said the president has no authority to cancel student loans, but the Biden administration is so desperate for votes, they are willing to break the law to essentially buy them.”

2024-07-31 08:04:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3105022%2Fbiden-email-all-student-loan-holders-debt-relief%2F?w=600&h=450, If you have a federal student loan, you’ll be hearing from President Joe Biden soon. The Biden administration will email roughly 30 million loanees this week to let them know about possible student debt relief they may be eligible for as the administration seeks to overcome courtroom challenges to its myriad cancellation programs. “By providing,

If you have a federal student loan, you’ll be hearing from President Joe Biden soon.

The Biden administration will email roughly 30 million loanees this week to let them know about possible student debt relief they may be eligible for as the administration seeks to overcome courtroom challenges to its myriad cancellation programs.

“By providing more information to borrowers on how they can take advantage of our upcoming debt relief programs, borrowers will be prepared to benefit swiftly once the rules are final,” Biden said in a prepared statement. “Despite attempts led by Republican elected officials to block our efforts, we won’t stop fighting to provide relief to student loan borrowers, fix the broken student loan system, and help borrowers get out from under the burden of student debt.”

Biden has previously sent emails to loanees letting them know he has canceled their debt, though many of his proposals are tied up in court and may be overruled before becoming finalized. The administration says it has canceled student loans for 5 million people so far at a cost to taxpayers of $168 billion.

“From day one of my administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” the president said. “I will never stop working to make higher education affordable and to make sure our administration delivers for the American people.”

Student loans have been one of Biden’s most high-profile, aggressive, and controversial policy areas since taking office three years ago. His initial plan would have cost taxpayers at least $400 billion but was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court last summer. Undaunted, Biden has since rolled out additional proposals that would be similarly pricey if fully implemented.

Biden’s Department of Education says it will email every person with a federal student loan and let them know they have until Aug. 30 opt out “if they do not want this relief.”

“The rules that would provide this relief are not yet finalized, and the email does not guarantee specific borrowers will be eligible,” the department added in a press release.

The rules the administration hopes to finalize this fall would expand its cancellation efforts from 5 million to 30 million loanees.

“Today, the Biden-Harris administration takes another step forward in our drive to deliver student debt relief to borrowers who’ve been failed by a broken system,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said. “These latest steps will mark the next milestone in our efforts to help millions of borrowers who’ve been buried under a mountain of student loan interest.”

The draft rules the administration proposed in April would transfer debts for people who owe more than their initial balance, those who have had loans for more than 20 years, those who qualify for loan cancelation but have not applied, and those who enrolled in what the administration deems “low-financial value programs.”

If approved, loan cancellation would happen automatically and there would not be an application process borrowers needed to go through.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Republicans have bristled at the initiatives, and GOP-led states have filed multiple successful lawsuits seeking to block Biden’s programs.

“Joe Biden is the real threat to democracy, and that is proven by his administration’s unconstitutional attempt to override the United States Supreme Court and force taxpayers to subsidize free college for other people,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in June. “Even Nancy Pelosi said the president has no authority to cancel student loans, but the Biden administration is so desperate for votes, they are willing to break the law to essentially buy them.”

, If you have a federal student loan, you’ll be hearing from President Joe Biden soon. The Biden administration will email roughly 30 million loanees this week to let them know about possible student debt relief they may be eligible for as the administration seeks to overcome courtroom challenges to its myriad cancellation programs. “By providing more information to borrowers on how they can take advantage of our upcoming debt relief programs, borrowers will be prepared to benefit swiftly once the rules are final,” Biden said in a prepared statement. “Despite attempts led by Republican elected officials to block our efforts, we won’t stop fighting to provide relief to student loan borrowers, fix the broken student loan system, and help borrowers get out from under the burden of student debt.” Biden has previously sent emails to loanees letting them know he has canceled their debt, though many of his proposals are tied up in court and may be overruled before becoming finalized. The administration says it has canceled student loans for 5 million people so far at a cost to taxpayers of $168 billion. “From day one of my administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity,” the president said. “I will never stop working to make higher education affordable and to make sure our administration delivers for the American people.” Student loans have been one of Biden’s most high-profile, aggressive, and controversial policy areas since taking office three years ago. His initial plan would have cost taxpayers at least $400 billion but was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court last summer. Undaunted, Biden has since rolled out additional proposals that would be similarly pricey if fully implemented. Biden’s Department of Education says it will email every person with a federal student loan and let them know they have until Aug. 30 opt out “if they do not want this relief.” “The rules that would provide this relief are not yet finalized, and the email does not guarantee specific borrowers will be eligible,” the department added in a press release. The rules the administration hopes to finalize this fall would expand its cancellation efforts from 5 million to 30 million loanees. “Today, the Biden-Harris administration takes another step forward in our drive to deliver student debt relief to borrowers who’ve been failed by a broken system,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said. “These latest steps will mark the next milestone in our efforts to help millions of borrowers who’ve been buried under a mountain of student loan interest.” The draft rules the administration proposed in April would transfer debts for people who owe more than their initial balance, those who have had loans for more than 20 years, those who qualify for loan cancelation but have not applied, and those who enrolled in what the administration deems “low-financial value programs.” If approved, loan cancellation would happen automatically and there would not be an application process borrowers needed to go through. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Republicans have bristled at the initiatives, and GOP-led states have filed multiple successful lawsuits seeking to block Biden’s programs. “Joe Biden is the real threat to democracy, and that is proven by his administration’s unconstitutional attempt to override the United States Supreme Court and force taxpayers to subsidize free college for other people,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in June. “Even Nancy Pelosi said the president has no authority to cancel student loans, but the Biden administration is so desperate for votes, they are willing to break the law to essentially buy them.”, , Biden administration to email all student loan holders about possible debt relief, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Joe-Biden-student-loans.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,

White House pressed on ‘election year gambit’ Supreme Court overhaul thumbnail

White House pressed on ‘election year gambit’ Supreme Court overhaul

The White House defended President Joe Biden‘s Supreme Court overhaul plans against a host of harsh questions Tuesday, with one reporter asking if the plan was “just an election year gambit.”

“What we’re seeing right now is not normal,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the high court’s recent rulings. “A majority of Americans agree with us. What we’re seeing at the Supreme Court is not normal. The president spoke to that at length.”

Biden unveiled a trio of proposals this week: 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices, a constitutional amendment to overturn the court’s recent presidential immunity decision, and a “binding” ethics code. None of the ideas stand a serious chance of becoming law, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declaring each of them “dead on arrival” in Congress.

During remarks Monday in Austin, Texas, Biden shot back that, “I think his thinking is dead on arrival,” a nod to the political nature of the move.

The president has also done little to engage congressional Democrats on the proposals, leading to questions about whether the overhaul is a serious policy measure or simply a messaging exercise.

Jean-Pierre responded by again saying the reforms are popular and pointing to a handful of conservative scholars who have said they support term limits.

“In the past several weeks, the actions that the Supreme Court has taken in undermining democracy and the rule of law — that’s important,” Jean-Pierre said. “The president felt he needed to address this.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

It is unclear if the term limits Biden supports would also apply to current justices, who enjoy lifetime appointments under the law. Each of the three longest-tenured members of the court, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and John Roberts, was appointed by Republican presidents and has been on the court for more than 18 years.

“The president and the vice president believe that the rule of law is the foundation of our democracy,” Jean-Pierre said. “It is the foundation of our democracy, which is why the president took action yesterday and he’s calling on Congress to do the same. What we welcome is a debate.”

2024-07-30 20:33:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3104843%2Fwhite-house-pressed-on-supreme-court-overhaul%2F?w=600&h=450, The White House defended President Joe Biden‘s Supreme Court overhaul plans against a host of harsh questions Tuesday, with one reporter asking if the plan was “just an election year gambit.” “What we’re seeing right now is not normal,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the high court’s recent rulings. “A majority of Americans agree,

The White House defended President Joe Biden‘s Supreme Court overhaul plans against a host of harsh questions Tuesday, with one reporter asking if the plan was “just an election year gambit.”

“What we’re seeing right now is not normal,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the high court’s recent rulings. “A majority of Americans agree with us. What we’re seeing at the Supreme Court is not normal. The president spoke to that at length.”

Biden unveiled a trio of proposals this week: 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices, a constitutional amendment to overturn the court’s recent presidential immunity decision, and a “binding” ethics code. None of the ideas stand a serious chance of becoming law, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declaring each of them “dead on arrival” in Congress.

During remarks Monday in Austin, Texas, Biden shot back that, “I think his thinking is dead on arrival,” a nod to the political nature of the move.

The president has also done little to engage congressional Democrats on the proposals, leading to questions about whether the overhaul is a serious policy measure or simply a messaging exercise.

Jean-Pierre responded by again saying the reforms are popular and pointing to a handful of conservative scholars who have said they support term limits.

“In the past several weeks, the actions that the Supreme Court has taken in undermining democracy and the rule of law — that’s important,” Jean-Pierre said. “The president felt he needed to address this.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

It is unclear if the term limits Biden supports would also apply to current justices, who enjoy lifetime appointments under the law. Each of the three longest-tenured members of the court, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and John Roberts, was appointed by Republican presidents and has been on the court for more than 18 years.

“The president and the vice president believe that the rule of law is the foundation of our democracy,” Jean-Pierre said. “It is the foundation of our democracy, which is why the president took action yesterday and he’s calling on Congress to do the same. What we welcome is a debate.”

, The White House defended President Joe Biden‘s Supreme Court overhaul plans against a host of harsh questions Tuesday, with one reporter asking if the plan was “just an election year gambit.” “What we’re seeing right now is not normal,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the high court’s recent rulings. “A majority of Americans agree with us. What we’re seeing at the Supreme Court is not normal. The president spoke to that at length.” Biden unveiled a trio of proposals this week: 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices, a constitutional amendment to overturn the court’s recent presidential immunity decision, and a “binding” ethics code. None of the ideas stand a serious chance of becoming law, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declaring each of them “dead on arrival” in Congress. During remarks Monday in Austin, Texas, Biden shot back that, “I think his thinking is dead on arrival,” a nod to the political nature of the move. The president has also done little to engage congressional Democrats on the proposals, leading to questions about whether the overhaul is a serious policy measure or simply a messaging exercise. Jean-Pierre responded by again saying the reforms are popular and pointing to a handful of conservative scholars who have said they support term limits. “In the past several weeks, the actions that the Supreme Court has taken in undermining democracy and the rule of law — that’s important,” Jean-Pierre said. “The president felt he needed to address this.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER It is unclear if the term limits Biden supports would also apply to current justices, who enjoy lifetime appointments under the law. Each of the three longest-tenured members of the court, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and John Roberts, was appointed by Republican presidents and has been on the court for more than 18 years. “The president and the vice president believe that the rule of law is the foundation of our democracy,” Jean-Pierre said. “It is the foundation of our democracy, which is why the president took action yesterday and he’s calling on Congress to do the same. What we welcome is a debate.”, , White House pressed on ‘election year gambit’ Supreme Court overhaul, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/White-House-Supreme-Court-Reform.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,

The early clues on how far Harris will stray from Biden’s legacy thumbnail

The early clues on how far Harris will stray from Biden’s legacy

Since President Joe Biden passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris a week ago, she has balanced how closely she should cling to her boss, who has historically low public approval. 

A namesake of the “Biden-Harris administration,” as the White House has long dubbed the duo, Harris so far has not given any indication she will stray too far from Biden on policy.

However, the former senator and California attorney general has tried to break from Biden stylistically with a reboot of her image as a tough former prosecutor and a TikTok star. 

That freshness has helped her in the last week to galvanize the Democratic donor base and party leaders around her quick candidacy. She’s hoping to ride that wave to the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago — backed by the same staffers and campaign infrastructure as Biden.

Harris has carved out different policy goals from Biden and other Democrats in the past, and she may choose to do so again once her campaign gets moving in earnest. It has been less than a week since Biden abruptly dropped out of the race Sunday afternoon.

A hint of their different approaches could be seen after both Biden and Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. The two gave broadly similar messages, but Harris was much more forceful about pushing back against Israel’s execution of its campaign in Gaza.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent,” Harris said Thursday to White House reporters. Harris called her talk with Netanyahu “frank” and pledged not to not to “look away in the face of these tragedies.”

On Friday, former President Donald Trump hit back at Harris during his own meeting with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago: “She was certainly disrespectful to Israel in my opinion,” Trump said, adding that he doesn’t know how anyone who is Jewish could vote for Harris.

In her domestic policy speeches so far, she is hemming close to her boss.

“We who believe in the freedom to vote will pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act,” Harris said in a speech at a teachers union convention in Houston. “We who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence will pass an ‘assault weapons’ ban. We who believe that every American should be free from bigotry and hate will fight to protect our teachers and our students from discrimination.”

Harris also spoke of student loan forgiveness and reproductive rights, policy positions that could easily have emerged from the mouth of Biden, if perhaps with slightly different wording.

For now, her difference in approach may be Harris’s biggest break with Biden on the campaign trail. Her background and demographic profile also could make her message carry differently than Biden on some topics.

Harris is leaning on her prosecutor background to paint the race against Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, as being “prosecutor versus felon,” even if Biden was already making Trump’s New York felonies an issue. Similarly, as a woman, Harris may be able to campaign more directly on abortion than Biden.

Those differences may prove detrimental in other areas, however. Both the Biden/Harris and Trump campaigns desperately want to win the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and Harris, a native Californian, will not be able to draw on “Scranton Joe” stories to try and connect with them.

The Trump campaign, for its part, says that it doesn’t expect Harris to be much different than her predecessor when it comes to policy.

“Kamala Harris is just as weak, failed, and incompetent as Joe Biden — and she’s also dangerously liberal,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. “Not only does Kamala need to defend her support of Joe Biden’s failed agenda over the past four years, she also needs to answer for her own terrible weak-on-crime record in California. A vote for Kamala is a vote for more crime, inflation, open borders, high gas prices, and war around the world, and our team will make sure every American knows it.”

Trump himself said earlier this week he expects debating Harris to be similar to Biden because of their shared outlook on governance, though it appears the debate is now on ice.

“I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden, but I want to debate her,” Trump said on a call with reporters. “She’ll be no different because they have the same policies.”

Harris and Biden, however, did spell out their policy differences ahead of the 2020 Democratic primaries as they were each jockeying for position in intraparty debates.

Harris co-sponsored the Green New Deal as a senator and said she supported a ban on fracking while running for president, both positions that Biden distanced himself from. Several green groups have come out in support of Biden’s decision to drop out of the race this week, including Evergreen Action, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Environmental Defense Fund.

If elected, she may seek to move beyond Biden in some areas. Axios reported that Harris wants to push a nearly $2 trillion pre-K, child care, and elder care program and wants to raise the corporate tax rate back to 35%, whereas Biden was pushing only for 28%.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

But since taking office, Harris has almost entirely fallen in line with the Biden administration’s policies. When asked if Biden would be OK with Harris carving out her own policy agenda, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointed to their record working together.

“The last four years has been very successful, policy-wise,” she said. “They’ve been able to get things done.”

2024-07-28 11:00:00, http://s.wordpress.com/mshots/v1/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fnews%2Fwhite-house%2F3100658%2Fharris-policies-stray-biden-legacy%2F?w=600&h=450, Since President Joe Biden passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris a week ago, she has balanced how closely she should cling to her boss, who has historically low public approval.  A namesake of the “Biden-Harris administration,” as the White House has long dubbed the duo, Harris so far has not given any indication,

Since President Joe Biden passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris a week ago, she has balanced how closely she should cling to her boss, who has historically low public approval. 

A namesake of the “Biden-Harris administration,” as the White House has long dubbed the duo, Harris so far has not given any indication she will stray too far from Biden on policy.

However, the former senator and California attorney general has tried to break from Biden stylistically with a reboot of her image as a tough former prosecutor and a TikTok star. 

That freshness has helped her in the last week to galvanize the Democratic donor base and party leaders around her quick candidacy. She’s hoping to ride that wave to the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago — backed by the same staffers and campaign infrastructure as Biden.

Harris has carved out different policy goals from Biden and other Democrats in the past, and she may choose to do so again once her campaign gets moving in earnest. It has been less than a week since Biden abruptly dropped out of the race Sunday afternoon.

A hint of their different approaches could be seen after both Biden and Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. The two gave broadly similar messages, but Harris was much more forceful about pushing back against Israel’s execution of its campaign in Gaza.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent,” Harris said Thursday to White House reporters. Harris called her talk with Netanyahu “frank” and pledged not to not to “look away in the face of these tragedies.”

On Friday, former President Donald Trump hit back at Harris during his own meeting with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago: “She was certainly disrespectful to Israel in my opinion,” Trump said, adding that he doesn’t know how anyone who is Jewish could vote for Harris.

In her domestic policy speeches so far, she is hemming close to her boss.

“We who believe in the freedom to vote will pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act,” Harris said in a speech at a teachers union convention in Houston. “We who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence will pass an ‘assault weapons’ ban. We who believe that every American should be free from bigotry and hate will fight to protect our teachers and our students from discrimination.”

Harris also spoke of student loan forgiveness and reproductive rights, policy positions that could easily have emerged from the mouth of Biden, if perhaps with slightly different wording.

For now, her difference in approach may be Harris’s biggest break with Biden on the campaign trail. Her background and demographic profile also could make her message carry differently than Biden on some topics.

Harris is leaning on her prosecutor background to paint the race against Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, as being “prosecutor versus felon,” even if Biden was already making Trump’s New York felonies an issue. Similarly, as a woman, Harris may be able to campaign more directly on abortion than Biden.

Those differences may prove detrimental in other areas, however. Both the Biden/Harris and Trump campaigns desperately want to win the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and Harris, a native Californian, will not be able to draw on “Scranton Joe” stories to try and connect with them.

The Trump campaign, for its part, says that it doesn’t expect Harris to be much different than her predecessor when it comes to policy.

“Kamala Harris is just as weak, failed, and incompetent as Joe Biden — and she’s also dangerously liberal,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. “Not only does Kamala need to defend her support of Joe Biden’s failed agenda over the past four years, she also needs to answer for her own terrible weak-on-crime record in California. A vote for Kamala is a vote for more crime, inflation, open borders, high gas prices, and war around the world, and our team will make sure every American knows it.”

Trump himself said earlier this week he expects debating Harris to be similar to Biden because of their shared outlook on governance, though it appears the debate is now on ice.

“I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden, but I want to debate her,” Trump said on a call with reporters. “She’ll be no different because they have the same policies.”

Harris and Biden, however, did spell out their policy differences ahead of the 2020 Democratic primaries as they were each jockeying for position in intraparty debates.

Harris co-sponsored the Green New Deal as a senator and said she supported a ban on fracking while running for president, both positions that Biden distanced himself from. Several green groups have come out in support of Biden’s decision to drop out of the race this week, including Evergreen Action, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Environmental Defense Fund.

If elected, she may seek to move beyond Biden in some areas. Axios reported that Harris wants to push a nearly $2 trillion pre-K, child care, and elder care program and wants to raise the corporate tax rate back to 35%, whereas Biden was pushing only for 28%.

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But since taking office, Harris has almost entirely fallen in line with the Biden administration’s policies. When asked if Biden would be OK with Harris carving out her own policy agenda, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointed to their record working together.

“The last four years has been very successful, policy-wise,” she said. “They’ve been able to get things done.”

, Since President Joe Biden passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris a week ago, she has balanced how closely she should cling to her boss, who has historically low public approval.  A namesake of the “Biden-Harris administration,” as the White House has long dubbed the duo, Harris so far has not given any indication she will stray too far from Biden on policy. However, the former senator and California attorney general has tried to break from Biden stylistically with a reboot of her image as a tough former prosecutor and a TikTok star.  That freshness has helped her in the last week to galvanize the Democratic donor base and party leaders around her quick candidacy. She’s hoping to ride that wave to the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago — backed by the same staffers and campaign infrastructure as Biden. Harris has carved out different policy goals from Biden and other Democrats in the past, and she may choose to do so again once her campaign gets moving in earnest. It has been less than a week since Biden abruptly dropped out of the race Sunday afternoon. A hint of their different approaches could be seen after both Biden and Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. The two gave broadly similar messages, but Harris was much more forceful about pushing back against Israel’s execution of its campaign in Gaza. “We cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent,” Harris said Thursday to White House reporters. Harris called her talk with Netanyahu “frank” and pledged not to not to “look away in the face of these tragedies.” On Friday, former President Donald Trump hit back at Harris during his own meeting with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago: “She was certainly disrespectful to Israel in my opinion,” Trump said, adding that he doesn’t know how anyone who is Jewish could vote for Harris. In her domestic policy speeches so far, she is hemming close to her boss. “We who believe in the freedom to vote will pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act,” Harris said in a speech at a teachers union convention in Houston. “We who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence will pass an ‘assault weapons’ ban. We who believe that every American should be free from bigotry and hate will fight to protect our teachers and our students from discrimination.” Harris also spoke of student loan forgiveness and reproductive rights, policy positions that could easily have emerged from the mouth of Biden, if perhaps with slightly different wording. For now, her difference in approach may be Harris’s biggest break with Biden on the campaign trail. Her background and demographic profile also could make her message carry differently than Biden on some topics. Harris is leaning on her prosecutor background to paint the race against Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, as being “prosecutor versus felon,” even if Biden was already making Trump’s New York felonies an issue. Similarly, as a woman, Harris may be able to campaign more directly on abortion than Biden. Those differences may prove detrimental in other areas, however. Both the Biden/Harris and Trump campaigns desperately want to win the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and Harris, a native Californian, will not be able to draw on “Scranton Joe” stories to try and connect with them. The Trump campaign, for its part, says that it doesn’t expect Harris to be much different than her predecessor when it comes to policy. “Kamala Harris is just as weak, failed, and incompetent as Joe Biden — and she’s also dangerously liberal,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. “Not only does Kamala need to defend her support of Joe Biden’s failed agenda over the past four years, she also needs to answer for her own terrible weak-on-crime record in California. A vote for Kamala is a vote for more crime, inflation, open borders, high gas prices, and war around the world, and our team will make sure every American knows it.” Trump himself said earlier this week he expects debating Harris to be similar to Biden because of their shared outlook on governance, though it appears the debate is now on ice. “I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden, but I want to debate her,” Trump said on a call with reporters. “She’ll be no different because they have the same policies.” Harris and Biden, however, did spell out their policy differences ahead of the 2020 Democratic primaries as they were each jockeying for position in intraparty debates. Harris co-sponsored the Green New Deal as a senator and said she supported a ban on fracking while running for president, both positions that Biden distanced himself from. Several green groups have come out in support of Biden’s decision to drop out of the race this week, including Evergreen Action, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Environmental Defense Fund. If elected, she may seek to move beyond Biden in some areas. Axios reported that Harris wants to push a nearly $2 trillion pre-K, child care, and elder care program and wants to raise the corporate tax rate back to 35%, whereas Biden was pushing only for 28%. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER But since taking office, Harris has almost entirely fallen in line with the Biden administration’s policies. When asked if Biden would be OK with Harris carving out her own policy agenda, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointed to their record working together. “The last four years has been very successful, policy-wise,” she said. “They’ve been able to get things done.”, , The early clues on how far Harris will stray from Biden’s legacy, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Kamala-Harris-policies.webp, Washington Examiner, Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon-32×32.png, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Haisten Willis,