Kamala Harris was furious after Joe Biden put on a hat endorsing Donald Trump for president during her presidential campaign.
A new book by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson details the struggles the Biden-Harris team had with each other as Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential campaign and ultimately endorsed Harris to take his place
After Biden dropped out of the race in July, the Harris campaign distanced themself from the president even as he was anxious to get on the road and help her win according to Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.
But one event in particular reportedly incensed Harris and her team who were running neck and neck with former President Trump in the latter part of the campaign.
Biden met with a group of volunteer firefighters as part of his presidential duties during a commemoration of the 9/11 terror attacks in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The president got into a conversation with an elderly man wearing a Trump 2024 hat and autographed the hat when he was asked.
When someone in the hat shouted that Biden should put on the hat, he obliged, earning applause and cheers from the crowd.
The Trump team couldn’t believe it.
Joe Biden grins as he puts on a Trump 2024 hat while visiting a firehouse in Pennsylvania
Kamala Harris struggled to deal with Biden's 'unhelpful' antics as she tried to campaign for president
‘Thanks for the support, Joe!’ the Trump campaign playfully wrote on social media, sharing photos of the moment.
‘What is he doing?’ Harris asked her team, according to the book. ‘This is completely unhelpful. And so unnecessary.’
The Harris campaign decided they would no longer campaign with Biden in the future, according to the book, as they were trying to emphasize her leadership qualities and at the same time push the president into the background.
No matter how hard they tried to sideline Biden, he continued making news that the Harris campaign considered unhelpful.
In October, Biden told supporters ‘we got to lock him up,’ when talking about former President Donald Trump, at a time when Trump and his supporters were accusing Biden and Harris of ‘lawfare’ to remove him from the presidential race.
Later that month, Biden also referred to President Trump’s supporters as ‘garbage,’ which the campaign famously branded as an insult to working class Americans.
‘That’s terrible. Remember Hillary? She said “deplorable.” And then she said “irredeemable,” right?…’ Trump asked at a rally as he paraded into the event in a Trump brand garbage truck. 'That didn’t work out. ‘Garbage’ I think is worse, right?'
The Harris team struggled mightily with Biden from the very beginning of the race.
President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris participate in a wreath laying ceremony marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris arrive ahead of the 60th inaugural ceremony
When Biden made his decision to drop out of his reelection campaign he told Harris he wanted to wait a week before endorsing his vice president.
The president phoned Harris to inform her of his decision and said he wanted Harris to run in his place.
But when the president’s team emailed her a draft of Biden’s planned statement, she grew alarmed after it contained no endorsement of her for president, Tapper and Thompson write.
According to the book, Harris spoke with Biden to express her concern, but the president explained he wanted to wait to endorse her until his official announcement in the Oval Office the following week.
The president’s aides Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti reportedly explained they and the president wanted Biden’s statement to stand on its own.
But Harris wouldn’t budge.
‘That open airtime will be filled with speculation about why you’re not endorsing your own vice president. It will cripple our ability to get off to a strong start,’ she told Biden.
They later conceded to Harris’ wishes.
Biden would announce his departure from the race and he would endorse Harris in a separate statement later in the afternoon.
Twenty-seven minutes after Biden dropped his bombshell announcement he followed up by endorsing Harris.
President Joe Biden walks out of the Oval Office of the White House in Washington
President Joe Biden, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris listen during the inauguration of Donald Trump
‘My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,’ he wrote.
Even though Biden endorsed Harris, there were many on his team who did not think she could actually win, the book notes.
Harris was notoriously protective of her personal political brand and frequently turned down requests from the president’s team to assist the president.
Original Sin confirms Harris was distrustful of the president’s team as she felt they were setting her up for failure by assigning her politically toxic issues for her to handle such as the migrant crisis.
