NEW: Kamala Harris has long felt that Bluetooth headphones are a security risk.
So, she insists on using wired ones, 3 fmr campaign aides told @rubycramer and me.
That Bluetooth phobia remains (if you look closely, you'll see the clump of wires in hand) politico.com/newsletters/we…
Doug, however, is pro-Bluetooth.
Former aides say that VP has long been careful about security — w/ some describing it as prudent & others suggesting it’s a bit paranoid.
A former aide from AG days said when a person arrived for a meeting, staff were instructed not to allow them to wait in Harris' office alone.
Some personnel scoops. @brittany_caplin is joining the WH as an asst. press secretary to focus on SBA, labor, housing, more.
Her replacement at Commerce is @RM_Patterson from Pelosi's office, who has some professional history w/ Andrew Bates and Mike Gwin in the WH.
Some more personnel scoops: @CodySibulo is joining Commerce as a speechwriter and deputy director of public affairs @AndrewOdgren is joining Commerce as a deputy speechwriter
and @dlippman scoops yet another departure from the staff secretary office.
also, we asked Harris' office for any background on the particular security risks she believes Bluetooth technology represents.
They did not respond.
Symone Sanders didn’t respond earlier today but here’s the VP office’s response—->
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New: Jean-Pierre’s colleagues had thoughts abt her & her book
“one of the most ineffectual and unprepared people I've ever worked with”
“The amount of time that was spent coddling her…was astronomical compared to our attn on actual matters of substance” axios.com/2025/06/05/kar…
Many quietly had fumed for years, believing she was incompetent at her job at the podium and more interested in promoting herself than Joe Biden.
Biden aides largely had stayed silent b/c she was seen as untouchable, given her close relationship w/ FLOTUS aide Anthony Bernal.
Jean-Pierre also caused internal drama by repeatedly blocking National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby from joining her at the White House podium, even when national security issues were at the forefront of the news.
Exclusive: Axios obtained the audio of Robert Hur's 2023 interviews of Biden which show repeated mental lapses as he struggles to remember words & dates amid long, uncomfortable pauses.
Biden WH didn't release it last year. Listen below.
w/ @MarcACaputo axios.com/2025/05/16/bid…
The audio shows what the transcript lacks — Biden's dry-whisper voice and the long silences as he struggles to speak and remember details.
Those often were supplied by his attorneys, who acted as caretakers of his memory.
There is also a clock in the background as a metronome.
Though amiable, the interview became somewhat tense when Biden attorney Bob Bauer chastised prosecutor Krickbaum in this exchange over why Biden had kept a memo about Afghanistan.
"Your answer is that you don't know," Bauer instructed the president.
Listen here.
New: the legal group co-founded by Stephen Miller has continued filing lawsuits and legal complaints—including against the Trump administration—as part of his larger campaign to make DEI programs illegal.
In early Feb, America First Legal petitioned the Education dept to investigate 5 school districts in VA for allegedly not complying with Title IX
Less than 2 weeks later, the Civil Rights office of the dept announced it was opening an investigation into the districts.
Late last month, the group petitioned the Labor Department to investigate whether outside federal contractors were in compliance with Trump's executive order banning federal contractors and subcontractors from "allowing or encouraging ... workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin."
They singled out contractors such as Lyft, Meta, Paramount, Twilio and others.
Operatives in both parties instantly saw it as a flashback to Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" remark.
The Trump team has already started to fundraise off it, sending out an email with the subject line: "You are not garbage! I love you! You are the best our nation has to offer."
Biden's comments are the latest example of why Kamala Harris' team has been avoiding campaigning with him.
Biden is both unpopular and undisciplined, Harris aides told Axios.
After Slotkin retreats from EV’s in a new ad this week, Harris told people in Michigan yesterday: "Contrary to what my opponent is suggesting, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive.”
Some more context in this piece.
In 2019, Harris backed a plan requiring all automakers to only make EV’s and hydrogen cars by 2035.