Photo courtesy of Baker Sellars/ Vice President Kamala Harris/ Instagram.
Bakari Sellars has defended Vice President Kamala Harris after a CNN story was published, which claimed that her staff was dysfunctional and “frantic” due to the lack of support from Biden’s staff.
According to the CNN report, Harris told Biden staffers directly that she did not want to manage the southern border. However, she was still given the task. The report claimed that as a result, Harris had
a “flippant attitude” about it, alleging that her staff saw the tasks she was being given as sandbagging.“Defenders and people who care for Harris are getting frantic,” said the CNN article. “She’s perceived to be in such a weak position that top Democrats in and outside of Washington have begun to speculate privately, asking each other why the White House has allowed her to become so hobbled in the public consciousness, at least as they see it.”
Sellars, a CNN analyst, compared the coverage of Harris to that of Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. He accused the media of trying to kill the vice president’s political career with a million cuts.
“I have a larger issue with the tone and tenor by which Kamala Harris is covered, and I think we saw that in this article,” said Sellars. “I have to push back heavily on this article and throw a little cold water on it. I’ve spent a lot of time recently with the vice president’s office and no one is frantic.”
“When you have these articles come out it puts a lot of us in a defensive posture because we see that a lot of people are treating Kamala Harris the same way they treated Hillary Clinton, which is attempting to end her political career in a death by a million cuts,” he added.
Sellars went on to say that Harris came into the Biden Administration as a team player and has proved that she’s a great team player.
“The fact is, she’s come into this being a great team player because there was a thought that she would not be a team player, and she’s been nothing but a great team player,” Sellers concluded.
Eleni Kounalakis is the lieutenant governor of California and a longtime friend of Vice President Harris. Kounalakis and said that the frustration comes from the Biden’s staff not giving Harris enough to do politically.
“It is natural that those of us who know her know how much more helpful she can be than she is currently being asked to be,” Kounalakis said. “That’s where the frustration is coming from.”
Vice President Harris recently had a successful trip to France, and Sellars noted that the press barely mentioned the trip.
The CNN report caused Press Secretary Jen Psaki to respond on Twitter to defend the vice president.
“For anyone who needs to hear it. @VP is not only a vital partner to @POTUS but a bold leader who has taken on key, important challenges facing the country—from voting rights to addressing root causes of migration to expanding broadband.”