Biden Campaign: ‘Don’t Believe’ Politico Story Kamala Harris Isn’t Lock for VP Because She Showed ‘No Remorse’ About Debate

Tommy ChristopherJul 28th, 2020, 10:11 am
 

Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) roiled the veepstakes when he reportedly said California Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) fell a notch because she didn’t “show remorse” for her debate exchange with former Vice President Joe Biden. But now the Biden campaign is responding, telling Fox News, “Don’t believe everything you read,” and that Biden still thinks very highly of Harris.

On Monday, Politico published a report in which Dodd, a leader on the task force vetting Biden’s VP candidates, allegedly slammed Harris over her confrontation with Biden at a debate last June:

When former Sen. Chris Dodd, a member of Joe Biden’s vice presidential search committee, recently asked Kamala Harris about her ambush on Biden in the first Democratic debate, Dodd was stunned by her response.

“She laughed and said, ‘that’s politics.’ She had no remorse,” Dodd told a longtime Biden supporter and donor, who relayed the exchange to POLITICO on condition of anonymity.

“Dodd felt it was a gimmick, that it was cheap,” the donor said. The person added that Dodd’s concerns about Harris were so deep that he’s helped elevate California Rep. Karen Bass during the vetting process, urging Biden to pick her because “she’s a loyal No. 2. And that’s what Biden really wants.” Through an aide, Dodd declined to comment. Advisers to Harris also declined to comment.

That article accomplished the near-impossible task of making “Chris Dodd” a top trending topic in the year 2020, and not in a good way.

But on Monday night’s edition of Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum, Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield pushed back on the story.

Host Martha MacCallum summed up the Dodd quote from the Politico story, and asked, regarding Harris, “Is her star falling in this process?”

“I would say to that story don’t believe everything you read,” Bedingfield said. “The vice president has said many many times how highly he thinks of her, what an incredible advocate she has been in the Senate, he’s talked a lot about the admiration that he has for her personally, she was friends with his son Bo, they worked together as they were attorneys general.”

“So I would say that don’t believe everything that you read in Politico,” Bedingfield said.

The Dodd story caused considerable consternation online Monday, with many prominent users calling out a double-standard for VP candidates, and even calling for Dodd to be removed from the campaign.

Bedingfield’s response doesn’t seem to have done the trick, at least not for people like Reecie Colbert, a prominent member of the Harris-supporting online collective known as the KHive. Colbert would still like to see Dodd fired from the selection task force.

Harris supporters can take some comfort in the artistry of Bedingfield’s response, in which she doesn’t deny Dodd said what he’s reported to have said (Dodd did not deny it either) — a potential sign that she means the article’s premise that Harris has faded from the top spot should not be believed. But retaining Dodd after comments that were offensive to so many could leave a bad taste in the aforementioned and very influential KHive’s mouths.
Update: Dodd released a statement Wednesday to The Washington Post‘s Jennifer Rubin in which he distanced himself from the remarks reported, but did not deny having made them:

“Throughout the course of this process, I have had hundreds of conversations related to the Vice-Presidential search,” it read. “Out of respect for the confidentiality of this process, I have refrained from commenting on the media speculation about any of the candidates, but the anonymous comments reported in POLITICO yesterday do not represent my view on Senator Harris nor what I have shared with Vice President Biden, and need to be addressed.” (The statement does not deny he said what Politico reported, only that it did not represent his views. Politico never reported Dodd had shared that sentiment with Biden.)

The statement concluded, “As with all the candidates, I have nothing but the utmost respect for Senator Harris and her qualifications.” The spokesperson did not respond to my question as to whether the senator had reached out to apologize to Harris.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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