Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday she would "of course" inform the public if there were an issue with President Joe Biden's health, but she added, "There's no need for that."
During an interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit, Harris was once again questioned on the 81-year-old president's fitness, which has become a large concern for voters.
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"If there ever is a problem, do you think that you could go tell the American public? Do you think, in your role — that you’re in a position to do that?" asked journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.
While answering affirmatively, Harris quickly pivoted to scrutinize the question's premise. "That is not based on substance, and you’re asking me to hypothesize around what are my duties to the American people, as vice president of the United States, that are based on ethics and morals and the law," she said.
"I will always follow those rules, but I am suggesting to you that it is important we not be seduced into one of the only arguments that that side of the aisle has right now," Harris continued.
Sorkin had prefaced his question with recent comments from former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), wherein he said Biden was noticeably different during debt negotiations in May. "He didn’t even think he was negotiating with him, that he thought he was looking at cards and that if the information effectively wasn’t on the cards, he wasn’t able to do it," Sorkin described McCarthy's comments.
The vice president responded, "When anyone who has had the experience that [McCarthy] has most recently had, I don’t think he’s a judge of negotiations," referring to his historic ouster from the speaker role in October.
According to Harris, "Age is more than a chronological fact."
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Of Biden, she said, "Not only is he absolutely authoritative in rooms around the globe, but in the Oval Office, meeting with members of Congress, meeting with leaders in industry, meeting with community leaders."
Ultimately, Harris claimed, the recurring questions over Biden's age and health are meant to distract from the administration's accomplishments.