They just keep leaving.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Fuchs on Monday became the latest high-level staffer to announce his departure from the veep’s office, according to Reuters.
“Fuchs, who served as a foreign policy advisor to former President Bill Clinton and worked in senior roles at the U.S. State Department under former President Barack Obama’s administration, advised Harris on domestic and international issues, helped manage staff and often accompanied her on foreign trips,” the wire service reported.
“Fifteen months later, it’s almost difficult to recall the magnitude of the challenges we faced when we came in, from an unprecedented pandemic to historically difficult economic circumstances,” Fuchs wrote, Reuters reported.
Although Harris took office just over 14 months ago, there has been a stream of top-level staffers bailing out of her office. Late last month, Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh became that latest to bail, announcing she is leaving the vice president’s office to take a job at the Defense Department, according to the New York Post.
Singh’s departure means just one of the four top communications positions is left from the original staff on Inauguration Day.
The New York Post said Singh “is at least the ninth key official to depart the veep’s office since this past summer — joining director of digital strategies Rajun Kaur, director of advance Karly Satkowiak, deputy director of advance Gabrielle DeFranceschi, communications director Ashley Etienne, chief spokesperson Symone Sanders, director of press operations Peter Velz, deputy director of public engagement Vince Evans, and speechwriting director Kate Childs Graham.”
Then two weeks ago, the vice president’s National Security Adviser Nancy McEldowney, announced she plans to leave Harris’ office.
They’re not like they’re moving up to the White House or some other high-level gig, either. Evans, for instance, quit in January to take on a new job on Capitol Hill, CNBC reported. He left to join the Congressional Black Caucus, which is headed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), which was also clearly less than a lateral move.
In December 2021, the core of her office, Sanders and Etienne, bolted. Their exits followed a devastating USA Today/Suffolk University poll that showed Harris earning a dismal 28% approval rating — 10 points behind President Joe Biden, who sat at a not-so-pretty 38% approval.
Then there were reports that Biden was not too happy about Harris’ numbers, with one piece even saying she’s not even considered to be Biden’s successor in the White House anymore.
Yet another report said the two top elected officials in the country are at war, prompting desperate Harris aides to defend their bosses, slamming the media for “gossip.”
“Joe Biden’s relationship with Kamala Harris is in crisis, with her staff furious that she is being ‘sidelined,’ while the president’s team are increasingly frustrated by how she is playing with American public,” the Daily Mail reported. “Harris’ approval rating has plunged even further than Biden’s in recent months, with rumors swirling that the president is considering appointing her to the Supreme Court as a backdoor method of selecting a new VP.”
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent, and ran the Drudge Report from 2010 to 2015. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.