Biden called Harris 'work in progress,' was 'annoyed' with her husband complaining: book

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The Fox News contributor joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss the presidential election in 2024 amid bombshell reports from the book.  

According to a new book about the Biden presidency, there have been real tensions between President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, with the president venting to friends that he has been "annoyed" with her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, complaining about the VP's official assignments. 

Biden has reportedly been frustrated with Harris and called her a "work in progress." 

Politico published these quotes on Tuesday from an excerpt of the upcoming book, "The Fight of His Life," by Chris Whipple. The book provides an inside look at the Biden presidency’s first years. Whipple told Politico he was given "extensive access to Biden administration officials while writing the book."

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Vice President Kamala Harris embraces President Biden before his remarks at a menorah lighting ceremony in celebration of Hanukkah in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 1, 2021. The ceremony marked the first time Hanukkah is celebrated with a Jewish member of either the first or second family, second gentleman Doug Emhoff. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Whipple’s access to the administration gave him a view to squabbling between Biden and Harris, after the vice president's husband reportedly provoked frustration in the president for complaining about her policy assignments.

Politico wrote, "word got back to [Biden] that second gentleman DOUGLAS EMHOFF had been complaining about Harris’ policy portfolio — which her allies felt was hurting her politically."

Upon hearing this, "'Biden was annoyed,' wrote author Chris Whipple." 

As the book stated, Biden felt as though he "hadn’t asked Harris to do anything he hadn’t done as vice president — and she’d begged him for the voting rights assignment."

Whipple also wrote that Biden confided to a friend that he viewed the vice president as "a work in progress." 

Additionally, a senior White House adviser blamed Harris' stumbling on advice given to her by her inner circle. The adviser expressed "[Harris'] inner circle didn’t serve her well in the presidential campaign — and they are ill-serving her now."

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Democratic National Committee Women's Leadership Forum in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30, 2022. (Leigh Vogel/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Whipple told Politico that some of the tensions within the Biden administration have died down in its second year, remarking that Biden has had a much better presidency in 2022.

He said, "What makes this such a great story is that Joe Biden and his team really turned it all around, I think." He described it as "a tale of two presidencies — the first year and the second year."

Whipple’s work features other moments of tension and frustration in the Biden White House, like those surrounding Biden’s catastrophic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2021. Politico wrote, "The book captures [White House Chief of Staff Ron] Klain’s anger at the public and private critiques of Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan by LEON PANETTA, the former chief of staff to BILL CLINTON who also served as CIA director and defense secretary under BARACK OBAMA."

President Biden speaks during a town hall with veterans in New Castle, Delaware, on Friday. (Screenshot/Twitter)

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It also details the letter former President Trump left Biden "before leaving the Oval Office." Politico wrote, "Biden’s reaction? 'That was very gracious and generous… Shockingly gracious.’"

White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson declined to comment on the veracity of the claims in the book beyond saying, "We don’t plan to engage in confirmations or denials when it comes to the specifics of those claims. The author did not give us a chance to verify the materials that are attributed here."