Fresh woe for Kamala Harris as another adviser quits
US Vice President Kamala Harris loses her ninth staff member, amid reports of turmoil and friction with Biden’s staff.
Kamala Harris is losing a senior adviser as an exodus from the vice-president’s team grows amid reports of turmoil and friction with President Biden’s staff.
Sabrina Singh, the deputy press secretary, is moving to the Pentagon after a turbulent first year of the administration marred by gaffes, messaging failures and reports of internal rifts.
Singh is the ninth team member to leave since autumn. She follows Ashley Etienne, the communications director, Symone Sanders, the press secretary, and Kate Graham, Harris’s chief speechwriter. The vice-president is shaking up her office before crucial midterm elections in November and the 2024 presidential race. She faces an uphill struggle, however.
Her work since becoming the first woman and first person of colour to be vice-president has failed to improve her position in polls. Her approval rating fell to 28 per cent in one poll in November, making her the least popular vice-president in modern American history.
Allies fear that without radical change, the turmoil could be fatal for her ambition to replace Biden when he stands down. It was reported that she was frustrated to be marginalised by Biden last year, being saddled with the task of solving the intractable immigration crisis on the southern border.
Harris, 57, has faced relentless attacks from the right-wing press. Critics have suggested that reports of a dysfunctional operation and a heavy turnover of staff are typical of her abrasive management style.
Sabrina Singh is the ninth member of Harris’s team to quit
The difficulties have led to rumours that Biden, 79, could replace Harris before the 2024 presidential race, despite his claims to the contrary.
A poll this week suggested that more than half of Americans do not believe him, as the pressures of spiralling inflation, the pandemic and the standoff with Russia pile up on America’s oldest president.
Harris has assumed a more prominent role at Biden’s side over recent weeks. She has also assumed a key diplomatic role, with testing trips to Germany and Poland as America rallies international support for the effort to arm Ukraine and impose crushing sanctions on Russia.
Singh will be replaced by Ernesto Apreza, Harris’s public engagement adviser, who worked on the Biden- Harris election campaign in 2020.
The Times
More Coverage
Teen reported al-Fayed 10 years earlier than police admit
Samantha-Jane Ramsay, 17, reported the Harrods owner for sexual abuse in 1995, to be told by police they would simply add her ‘to a pile of other female names’ who had made complaints.
King Charles cuts off Prince Andrew’s $2m allowance
Five years after Prince Andrew’s disastrous BBC interview, the King has severed his brother’s financial ties, a decision that may force the Duke to downsize.