A new book claims that the relationship between President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris has at times been strained, with Biden referring to his No. 2 as a “work in progress,” Politico reports.
The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House, by author and documentary filmmaker Chris Whipple, comes out next month from Scribner. Whipple writes that Biden heard that Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff, was unhappy with the policy tasks the president had given Harris.
“Biden was annoyed,” Whipple writes. “He hadn’t asked Harris to do anything he hadn’t done as vice president—and she’d begged him for the voting rights assignment.”
Whipple’s book also reveals Biden’s surprise at the tone of a letter he received from his predecessor, Donald Trump. “That was very gracious and generous,” Biden said. “Shockingly gracious.”
Whipple told Politico that it wasn’t easy finding people close to Biden who would talk about the president. “It was tough, because, as you well know, this is the most battened-down, disciplined, leak-proof White House in modern times,” he said.
Whipple is the author of two previous books, The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency and The Spymasters: How the CIA Directors Shape History and the Future.
Scribner says The Fight of His Life is “a revelatory, news-making look at how President Joe Biden and his seasoned team have battled to achieve their agenda.” It’s scheduled for publication on Jan. 17, 2023.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
