By Eoin McSweeney Kamala Harris will soon be making more history when she becomes the first United States vice president to have a figure on display at the Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York City. The attraction in Times Square released
Harris aiming to deepen US relationship with Guatemala and Mexico on first foreign trip
By Jasmine Wright Kamala Harris will try to deepen the United States’ “strategic partnership and bilateral relationship” with Guatemala and Mexico on her first foreign trip as vice president, according to her senior staff members. Harris will visit the region next week as part of her role leading diplomatic efforts to stem the flow of migration from Central America, and she will focus on economic development, climate and food insecurity, and women and young people, according to her staff. The trip underscores the administration’s heightened focus on Central America and migration from the region, especially as record numbers of unaccompanied
Vice President Harris’ team tries to distance her from fraught situation at the border
By Priscilla Alvarez and Natasha Bertrand In the weeks since the President asked her to take charge of immigration from Central America, Vice President Kamala Harris and her staff have sought to make one thing clear: She does not manage the southern border. Two White House officials familiar with the dynamic said Harris and her aides have emphasized internally that they want to focus on conditions in Central America that push migrants to the US southern border, as President Joe Biden tasked her to do. A record number of unaccompanied children crossed into the US this spring, and the throngs
Harris to become first female US Naval Academy commencement speaker
By Jasmine Wright Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday will become the first woman to give the commencement speech at the United States Naval Academy when she addresses the 2021 graduating class. During the speech, Harris will touch on some of the biggest threats to the nation and its armed forces, including the pandemic, cybersecurity and climate change. One White House official said the address is her first broad speech focused on the military and the threats the country faces today. “The global pandemic has accelerated our world into a new era. It has forever impacted our world. It has
Harris to the Class of 2021: ‘You have the strength to get through anything’
By Chandelis Duster Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday applauded members of the Class of 2021 on their perseverance in earning their high school diplomas during the coronavirus pandemic, which upended classrooms and shuttered a number of extracurricular activities such as sports. “You now know, that you have what it takes to get through pretty much anything. So when you come up against an obstacle, when you experience a setback — and you will, we all do — remember the resilience that you showed this past year. The determination. Remember, that you have the strength to get through anything,” Harris
Kamala Harris to keynote star-studded CNN special honoring Class of 2021
By Paul LeBlanc CNN will air a star-studded prime-time special on Sunday honoring the class of 2021, as millions of students across the nation graduate following a year shaped by the coronavirus pandemic. “Graduation 2021: A CNN Special Event” will air Sunday, May 23 at 7 p.m. ET on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español. The special will feature a keynote address from Vice President Kamala Harris along with musical performances from Portugal. The Man, Andy Grammer, Lukas Graham and EARCANDY. Students from the Duke Ellington School of Arts in Washington, DC, and the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School
Harris to chair the National Space Council
By Jasmine Wright The Biden administration will maintain the National Space Council and Vice President Kamala Harris will chair it, according to senior administration officials, adding another item to the vice president’s portfolio. Harris confirmed her new role on Saturday, writing in a tweet, “As I’ve said before: In America, when we shoot for the moon, we plant our flag on it. I am honored to lead our National Space Council.” Harris “intends to put her own personal stamp on the Council,” a senior administration official said. The official listed her personal priorities as STEM education, cybersecurity, supporting sustainable development
Kamala Harris to be first vice president with wax figure at Madame Tussauds
By Eoin McSweeney Kamala Harris will soon be making more history when she becomes the first United States vice president to have a figure on display at the Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York City. The attraction in Times Square released photos Wednesday of the work done so far on busts of Vice President Kamala Harris and US President Joe Biden in honor of their 100th day in office. “We were keen to focus on her smile and the warmth in her eyes,” David Burks, the principal sculptor, told CNN Thursday. “It’s that twinkle in the eye that’s so
New York Post temporarily deletes, then edits false story that claimed Harris’ book was given out in migrant ‘welcome kits’
By Daniel Dale The New York Post temporarily deleted, and then edited and republished, a debunked article that falsely claimed that copies of Vice President Kamala Harris’ book were being included in “welcome kits” given to migrant children at a shelter in Long Beach, California. The reporter who wrote the article, Laura Italiano, tweeted late Tuesday afternoon that she had resigned from the newspaper. Italiano tweeted: “The Kamala Harris story — an incorrect story I was ordered to write and which I failed to push back hard enough against — was my breaking point.” The Post newsroom referred questions about
Kamala Harris cements her place in Biden’s inner circle during a consequential week
By Kevin Liptak and Jasmine Wright Vice President Kamala Harris was huddled with other White House officials in President Joe Biden’s private dining room last week when the room let out a “collective exhale.” A Minnesota jury had found Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd. As the large flat-screen television mounted on the north wall flashed three “guilty” counts, the room was overcome with a “sweeping sense of relief,” an aide said. Harris joined Biden and the first lady moments later in the Oval Office, where Floyd’s family was patched in by speakerphone. “She wants to say something,” Biden
Harris casts first tie-breaking vote for a Biden nominee after Senate splits on Pentagon pick
By Jeremy Herb and Ted Barrett Vice President Kamala Harris cast her first tie-breaking vote related to a Biden administration nominee on the Senate floor Wednesday evening, voting to advance the nomination of Colin Kahl to be the Pentagon’s undersecretary for policy. The Senate deadlocked 50-50 on a straight party-line procedural vote to discharge Kahl’s nomination from the Armed Services Committee, requiring Harris to break the tie. She’ll likely have to cast two more tie-breaking votes on Kahl’s nomination before he is confirmed to the No. 3 civilian position at the Pentagon. Wednesday was the first time Harris had to