‘Vice President Harris Became Squarely an Issue in This Election Today’: GOP Strategist Signals What’s Next After Biden Special Counsel Report
Republican strategist and CNN commentator Scott Jennings said that as next in line to the presidency, Vice President Kamala Harris is now “squarely” a campaign issue after a Department of Justice report cast doubt on President Joe Biden’s mental fitness.
On Thursday, Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report detailing his investigation into Biden’s retention of classified documents from his time in office as a senator the vice president. Hur declined to pursue charges against Biden partly because he could present to a jury “as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Hur also stated Biden “did not remember when he was vice president” or “when his son died.”
A defiant Biden held a press conference hours later at the White House, where he slammed parts of the report.
“How in the hell dare he raise that?” Biden thundered while insisting he knows when his son Beau Biden died. Later in the presser, he erroneously said Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi is the president of Mexico.
Jennings weighed in during Thursday’s CNN NewsNight.
“The principle question of the day is, did anything that happened today in this document or this press conference help or hurt this number – that three-quarters of the American people before today had moderate or significant concerns about the president’s mental acuity and fitness for this office?” he began. “I would submit at the conclusion of this document and at the conclusion of this press conference, that number certainly didn’t get any better. It probably got worse.”
The strategist then suggested that Harris – who, like Biden, has a low approval rating – will increasingly become a Republican campaign talking point.
“And it firmly shifted the conversation even further towards his own vice president,” he continued. “There aren’t too many Americans who are gonna look at this and say, ‘This guy is up to serving for five more years as president of the United States. I think Vice President Harris became squarely an issue in this election today. She already was getting there, and now it’s even more important.”
In the general election, Biden is likely to face former President Donald Trump, who is facing 91 criminal counts in four jurisdictions. Trump was found liable for sexual assault last year and was subsequently found liable for defaming his victim.
Watch above via CNN.
