Joe Biden tells Barack Obama ‘she’s not as strong as me’, says lip reader
US President Joe Biden put down his Vice President Kamala Harris in a conversation with former president Barack Obama captured on video, according to a professional lip reader.
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US President Joe Biden is said to have complained that his Vice President Kamala Harris is “not as strong as me” in a conversation with former US President Barack Obama.
The private conversation happened at a memorial service for Ethel Kennedy, the wife of US senator Robert F Kennedy, in Washington on Wednesday and was captured on camera.
According to a professional lip reader commissioned by the New York Post to decipher Mr Biden and Mr Obama’s words, Mr Biden said: “She’s not as strong as me”, assumingly about Ms Harris.
Mr Obama then replied: “I know … that’s true,” and added, “We have time.”
“Yeah, we’ll get it in time,” Mr Biden replies.
Earlier Mr Obama said “it’s important that we have some time together” in a possible reference to campaigning alongside Ms Harris, The Post reports.
Meanwhile, Mr Obama today posted a video on X along side a message of support for Ms Harris.
“@KamalaHarrishas spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a chance – and she’s going to keep fighting for you. That’s the kind of person I’m proud to vote for and that’s the kind of president that we need,” he says.
.@KamalaHarris has spent her life fighting on behalf of people who need a voice and a chance – and she's going to keep fighting for you. That's the kind of person I'm proud to vote for and that's the kind of president that we need. pic.twitter.com/IGbZfR5TJA
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 17, 2024
It comes after Ms Harris made her clearest effort yet to break with Mr Biden – while refusing to admit she had concerns about his capacity to serve – in her most combative interview of the US election campaign.
Appearing on Fox News, the Vice President and anchor Bret Baier repeatedly spoke over each other, with a fiery Ms Harris asking him to stop interrupting her as she took her bid to defeat Donald Trump directly to his conservative supporters.
While she struggled to explain why a majority of voters believed the country was on the wrong track and how they would be turning the page by electing her after almost four years as the Vice President, Ms Harris went further in differentiating herself from the President, having recently come under fire for refusing to second-guess any of his decisions.
“My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency … I represent a new generation of leadership,” she said, as she promised to invite ideas and seek consensus from Republicans if she won the election on November 5.
Ms Harris defended the “judgment and experience” of the oldest president in history as she refused to say when she noticed his decline that forced him to drop out of the race.
“Joe Biden is not on the ballot,” she said.
The Vice President instead launched a withering attack on Mr Trump over his threat to use America’s military to rein in his domestic opponents, who he has called “the enemy within”.
“This is a democracy, and in a democracy, the president of the United States … should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he’d lock people up for doing it. This is what is at stake,” she said.
Asked why half the country was supporting Mr Trump, and if she thought they were stupid, Ms Harris said she would “never say that about the American people” and that her opponent was “the one who tends to demean and belittle and diminish the American people”.
“He is unfit to serve, he is unstable, he is dangerous, and people are exhausted,” she said.
Mr Baier opened the interview with a series of pointed questions about the decisions of the Biden-Harris administration that fuelled a record influx of illegal immigrants into the US, with the pair repeatedly interrupting each other as Ms Harris told him: “I’m not finished.”
She said the murder of several young women by illegal immigrants were “tragic cases” and that she could not “imagine the pain that the families of those victims have experienced for a loss that should not have occurred”.
Ms Harris also backed away from her support in 2019 for decriminalising border crossings, saying the immigration system had been in crisis since before Mr Trump came to office and that fixing it would be a key priority if she was elected.
Having recently sparked criticism by naming Iran rather than China as America’s greatest adversary, the Vice President doubled down on that stance as she attacked how Mr Trump handled Iran, going back and forth with the Fox News anchor as she said she wanted “a conversation that is grounded in full assessment of the facts”.
Mr Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt declared the interview was “a train wreck”.
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TRUMP SAYS HE’S THE FATHER OF IVF
Donald Trump has dubbed himself the “father of IVF”, even as he admitted that he had to have the decades-old fertility treatment explained to him when it was briefly banned in an American state earlier this year.
IVF became a political flashpoint after the US Supreme Court – dominated by conservative judges appointed by the former president – overturned the federal right to abortion more than two years ago.
This led to Alabama’s top court deciding frozen embryos used in IVF were children and that those who destroyed them could be held liable for wrongful death, briefly suspending the treatment used by millions of women before the state’s legislature overturned the ban.
But Mr Trump, appearing at an all-female town hall hosted by Fox News, claimed Republicans were “the party for IVF”.
He recalled how the “fantastically attractive” Alabama senator Katie Britt called him to alert him to the “emergency” created by the state court’s decision.
“Within about two minutes, I understood we’re totally in favour of IVF,” Mr Trump said.
“I came out with a statement within an hour, a really powerful statement … We want fertilisation.”
His opponent Kamala Harris responded by saying: “What is he talking about?”
“If what he meant is taking responsibility, then yeah, he should take responsibility for the fact that one in three women in America lives in a Trump abortion ban state,” the Vice President said.
“What he should take responsibility for is that couples who are praying and hoping and working towards growing a family have been so disappointed and harmed by the fact that IVF treatments have now been put at risk.”
ARMED TRUMP SUPPORTER SUES
The mega MAGA fan arrested at Donald Trump’s Coachella rally has sued the sheriff who alleged a “third assassination attempt” was narrowly averted.
A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Vem Miller alleges that Sheriff Chad Bianco “intentionally, maliciously and with a blatant disregard for the truth” created a narrative to be viewed as a hero who saved Mr Trump.
Mr Miller says he’s in hiding after over the allegations he says could get him “offed” by “crazy guys trying to protect Trump”.
“I cancelled a bunch of events,” Mr Miller told The Independent. “It’s craziness right now, dude.”
“[Sheriff Bianco] messed with the wrong crew, because I come with people,” Miller said. “When the bodycams come out, forget about it.”
Despite public statements from the FBI, Secret Service and the US Attorney’s office that Mr Trump was never in danger, the claims of another assassination attempt went viral.
Mr Miller was charged on misdemeanour weapons charges and released on a $A7,500 bond.
The civil rights complaint against Sheriff Bianco says that instead of apologising to Mr Miller for false accusations, “Bianco compounded [his own] misconduct, perpetuated [sic] a boisterous and delusional narrative that has caused irreparable harm to Miller’s character and reputation.”
Miller, 49, was stopped in a black SUV by deputies manning a checkpoint about a mile (1.6km) from the rally. Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said he was found to be illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a high-capacity magazine.
KAMALA TROLLS TRUMP
Kamala Harris has questioned Donald Trump’s mental state after the former US president spent 40 minutes dancing and swaying to his favourite songs at a rally near Philadelphia.
“Hope he’s okay,” the Democratic presidential candidate posted on X.
Ms Harris’s campaign, which has begun to aggressively challenge Mr Trump, 78, on his health and mental stability, said that he appeared “lost, confused, and frozen on stage”.
The turn of events came when Mr Trump was being questioned by the event moderator, South Dakota governor Kristi Noem.
“Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make it into a music. Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?” Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump then swayed on stage to songs including James Brown’s It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World, the Village People’s YMCA, Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O’Connor, and Luciano Pavarotti’s rendition of Ave Maria.
It came as Mr Trump warned that Ms Harris’ allergies could prevent her from serving effectively.
“I have just seen Kamala’s Report, and it is not good,” Mr Trump posted on Truth Social.
“She also has ‘allergic rhinitis and allergic conjunctivitis,’ a very messy and dangerous situation. These are deeply serious conditions that clearly impact her functioning,” he said. “Maybe that is why she can’t answer even the simplest of questions asked by 60 Minutes, and others.”
TRUMP BREAKS SILENCE ON PUTIN CALLS
Donald Trump broke his silence on whether he held secret calls with Vladimir Putin after leaving the White House, saying it would be a “smart thing”.
While refusing to confirm reports by veteran journalist Bob Woodward that he’s spoken to Mr Putin since leaving office, Mr Trump hinted that it’s something that he would probably do.
“I will not comment,” Mr Trump said. “But if I did it’s a smart thing. If I have a good relationship with people, that’s a good thing.”
Mr Woodward reported last week that Mr Trump had held several private phone calls with Mr Putin since the end of his presidency in 2020.
Mr Trump’s non-denial came during a testy interview at the Economic Club of Chicago with Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait.
Mr Micklethwait, who said Kamala Harris refused to appear at the event, pressed Mr Trump on his economic policies ahead of the November election.
TRUMP STUNNED BY ‘BEAUTIFUL’ SUPPORTER
Former US president Donald Trump paused during his rally in Arizona to comment on a “beautiful” female supporter while taking shots at political correctness.
The former president was discussing his crowd sizes at rallies when a woman in the audience shouted it was “Because we love you!”
The crowd erupted in applause as Mr rump scanned the venue, looking for the woman.
“Where is that woman? Stand up! Look at her. Wow! I would say — that’s beautiful,” Mr Trump said.
“Is she your wife? You know what? I would say she’s a beautiful woman but if I did say that — my political career, you’re not allowed to say that. So I’m not allowed to call you a beautiful woman.”
Mr Trump turned away as if he were finished before whispering “But she is!”
“It’s crazy what’s gone on! You have to be politically correct, nowadays.”
KAMALA HARRIS IN PLAGIARISM ROW
It came as Vice President Kamala Harris was hit with allegations of plagiarism after numerous passages from her 2009 book Smart on Crime were discovered to closely resemble wording from other sources.
Ms Harris, then San Francisco’s district attorney, wrote the book promoting a reform-minded approach to prosecuting crimes.
Conservative activist Christopher Rufo published the allegations and credited an investigation by Austrian “plagiarism hunter” Stefan Weber, The New York Post reports.
According to the Post, five side-by-side passages indicate that Ms Harris may have lifted wording from sources including an Associated Press article from 2008, a Wikipedia article from 2008 and a Bureau of Justice Assistance report from 2000.
WHITE HOUSE IN REVOLT
The mud-slinging and finger-pointing has begun among White House and Harris campaign staffers as Donald Trump inched ahead in the final weeks of the US presidential election.
“Increasingly fraught” tensions between the teams of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris boiled to the surface as the vice president’s media blitz failed to stop Mr Trump from taking a narrow 0.4 point lead in the swing states, according to the RCP polling average.
It comes as Ms Harris agreed to sit for her first interview with Fox News of the campaign in a move to peel away Republican voters in the exceedingly tight race, which Ms Harris leads in the national polling average of just 1.7 points.
The Harris campaign team, made up of many former Biden campaign staffers before he was ousted, say the White House hasn’t co-ordinated the president’s schedule or messaging to align with the vice president.
The Biden team, meanwhile, are still upset the president was pushed out of the race and into a supporting role of the Democratic ticket’s campaign, according to 10 people familiar with the situation.
“They’re too much in their feelings,” one close Harris ally told Axios. “The White House is lacking someone in the room thinking first and foremost about how things would affect the campaign.”
Mr Biden has held several high-profile events during Ms Harris’ campaign appearances, with the latest impromptu press conference on Saturday interrupting a Harris event in Michigan, impacting its live coverage.
Some of the president’s statements have also directly contradicted Ms Harris’s primary appeal to voters that she is a change candidate.
“We’re singing from the same song sheet. She helped pass all the laws. She’s a major player in everything we’ve done,” Mr Biden said.
The notable time Mr Biden distanced himself from Ms Harris was over her criticism of Florida governor Ron DeSantis in the lead-up to Hurricane Milton, with the president saying he was “gracious” and “cooperative”.
While the White House denied any bad blood, the Harris campaign did not respond to the report. Much of the upset comes from staffers who transitioned from the White House to the Harris campaign who feel “they’ve been labelled as disloyal by Biden’s team for leaving or even considering it”, according to Axios writer Alex Thompson.
They all want Ms Harris to beat Mr Trump, but the “sore feelings” remain nonetheless.
“Everyone from the president on down knows how important the election is, and we always anticipated a number of staff would want to transition from the administration to the campaign for the final stretch,” a White House official added.
TRUMP, HARRIS TARGET PENNSYLVANIA
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are both campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania this week as the clock ticks on the US election, with the Democrat also targeting male Black voters who are drifting to the Republican.
Just over three weeks before voting day on November 5, local time, vice president Harris and former president Trump remain neck-and-neck in the polls, with both candidates increasingly believing the election will be won or lost in blue-collar Pennsylvania.
Harris will be holding a rally in Erie, the northernmost county in the state and a bellwether in US presidential elections since 2008, while Trump holds a town hall in Oaks on the outskirts of Philadelphia.
It marks the start of a week-long blitz of the three battleground Rust Belt states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin this week by Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.
RACE NECK AND NECK
A series of recent polls showed Harris marginally ahead or even with Trump in the national vote, which effectively puts her behind in the race for the US electoral college system. Democrats generally need a lead of three or more points in the national vote to win in the electoral college, which favours Republicans.
They remain more or less even in the seven battleground states where the election is likely to be decided — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Harris, 59, went on the offensive at the weekend, releasing her medical records and challenging Trump — who is at 78 the oldest presidential nominee in US history — to do the same.
Trump responded on social media, saying it was “very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility” calling her “slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions.”
– with AFP
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