Vice President Kamala Harris told a reporter with The Wall Street Journal that she is “ready to serve” just two days before Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on President Biden’s handling of classified documents was released.
Kamala Harris 'ready to serve' as Democrats sound the alarm about Biden's age: report https://t.co/Zr2TZOGqrt
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“I am ready to serve. There’s no question about that,” Harris said when she was asked if questions about President Biden’s ability to serve for another year made it more important for her to convince voters she could do the job of the President. She added that anyone who has seen her work “walks away fully aware of my capacity to lead.”
Biden, at the age of 81, would be the oldest man ever elected president and questions have come from Democrats and Republicans alike about his mental acuity and ability to run the country for another four years.
Just days after Harris’ interview with the Wall Street Journal, Hur released a report that recommended clearing Biden of any charges over his handling of classified documents. It was his comments that went along with the report that added fuel to the concerns regarding Biden’s age.
One of Hur’s stated reasons for not recommending charges was that Biden would come across as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” at trial.
“Mr. Biden’s memory also appeared to have significant limitations,” Hur wrote, adding that his conversations with his ghostwriter “from 2017 are often painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.”
Since Hur’s report came out last Thursday, Harris has been a vocal critic of the report, calling it “politically motivated” and a supporter of the President. The damage, however, had already been done.
An ABC News/IPSOS poll that came out after Hur’s report shows that 86% of Americans think Biden is too old to run for office again, and there are some even within his own party who are turning against him.
“There was always going to be a lot of scrutiny and pressure on her in the 2024 campaign, and that moment’s here now. I think that the special counsel’s report has sort of accelerated that moment,” said Jennifer Palmieri, who worked under the Obama and Clinton presidencies.
