Kamala Harris aides quit amid claim of ‘abusive environment’

Staffers who resigned say their departures were planned. Others say there is unhappiness in the camp.

US Vice President Kamala Harris. Picture: Patrick T Fallon/AFP

Two aides to Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, have resigned amid reports of discontent among her team.

The departures of Karly Satkowiak and Gabrielle DeFranceschi, who are responsible for planning Harris’s travel, leave a hole in her staff at a time when she is travelling widely to help sell the Biden administration’s agenda.

Both women and the vice-president’s office said the departures were planned, despite the administration being less than six months old. It is a point disputed by others who say that the resignations underscore unhappiness among her aides.

In a series of off-the-record interviews, 22 members of Harris’s current and former staff and other associates have painted a picture of poor morale and growing frustration in the vice-president’s inner circle. “People are thrown under the bus from the very top, there are short fuses and it’s an abusive environment,” a person familiar with Harris’s office told the Politico website. “It’s not a healthy environment and people often feel mistreated. It’s not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like shit.”

The vice-president is believed to covet the White House and it is assumed that she will run when President Biden, 78, steps down. He has said he intends to serve two full terms, which would see him depart aged 86.

Harris, 56, has faced criticism from several quarters. Since she was put in charge of trying to stop migrants crossing the border with Mexico, Republicans have made hay as the numbers arriving hit 20-year highs.

Harris visited the border for the first time last week, almost 100 days after being asked to resolve the crisis. On a recent trip to Guatemala, she was challenged on why at that point she had not been to the border. In a reply that earned her ridicule, she pointed out that she had not visited Europe either.

A spokeswoman for Harris rejected the claims that staff were unhappy. “We are not making rainbows and bunnies all day,” she said. “What I hear is that people have hard jobs and I’m like, ‘Welcome to the club.’

“We have created a culture where people, if there is anything anyone would like to raise, there are avenues for them to do so.”

The Times