During a campaign event at Iowa State University, former Vice President Joe Biden expressed grief that Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) had exited the Democratic presidential primary, but insisted that Harris has “unlimited” potential, and implied she may one day hold a higher office.
“A lot of good people trying to seek the nomination for president in the Democratic party, and I mean that sincerely,” Biden told supporters, according to CNN. “We lost a really good one, the senator from California. She’s capable of being president, or vice president or on the Supreme Court or attorney general.”
After the event, Biden told reporters that “of course” he would consider Harris as a running mate, and that “Senator Harris has the capacity to be anything she wants to be,” according to CBS.
After the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Harris was floated as a potential successor, and the LA Times reported that there was speculation Harris “could be on President Obama’s short list of possible nominees.”
Former advisor to the Obama White House David Axelrod was one such person who mentioned the speculation, and Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine, maintained a Harris appointment was “plausible,” although “unusual,” reported the news agency.
A spokesman for Harris’ Senate campaign at the time told the LA Times that, while Harris was “honored to be mentioned in these conversations, she’s committed to her current job and continuing her fight” in the Senate.
Biden’s comments come only a day after Harris announced that she was suspending her campaign due to a lack of financial resources. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Harris reached the decision after she performed a campaign audit, which was prompted by an article in the Times declaring that her campaign had “unraveled.”
Biden has previously floated the idea of several potential running mates, including former Assistant AG Sally Yates, failed Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams, and New Hampshire Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, according to USA Today.
During the most recent Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Harris notoriously asked Kavanaugh an absurdly long and equally ridiculous line of questioning, presumably to garner favor with the media ahead of her now-failed presidential bid.
HARRIS: Have you discussed Mueller or his investigation with anyone at Kasowitz, Benson & Torres, the law firm founded by Marc Kasowitz, President Trump’s personal attorney.
KAVANAUGH: I —
HARRIS: Be sure about your answer, sir.
KAVANAUGH: Well, I’m not remembering but if you have something you wanna —
HARRIS: Are you certain you’ve not had a conversation with anyone at that law firm?
KAVANAUGH: Kasowitz, Benson —
HARRIS: Kasowitz, Benson & Torres, which is the law firm founded by Marc Kasowitz, who is President Trump’s personal lawyer. Have you had any conversation about Robert Mueller, or his investigation, with anyone at that firm? Yes or no?
KAVANAUGH: Is there a person you’re talking about?
HARRIS: I’m asking you a very direct question, yes or no?
KAVANAUGH: I’m not sure I know everyone who works at that law firm.
HARRIS: I don’t think you need to, I think you need to know who you talked with. Who’d you talk to?
As Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro summarized of the nearly 10 minute derailment, Harris “essentially accused Kavanaugh of stonewalling on whether he had spoken with President Trump’s law firm about the Robert Mueller investigation. Kavanaugh correctly said he didn’t know what she was talking about, and also said he didn’t know every lawyer at Kasowitz Benson Torres — a law firm with nearly 300 attorneys.”