Exclusive — Mike Waltz: Kamala Harris ‘Not Ready to Be Commander-in-Chief’

CHICAGO, Illinois — Rep. Mike Waltz told Breitbart News on Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris is not ready to be commander-in-chief — and that she shares responsibility for President Joe Biden’s worst mistakes.

“Just look at her record the last four years. And look at the state of the military under her and Biden’s leadership,” he said. “And remember, she is constantly kind of thumping her chest that she’s the ‘last one in the room’ and that she’s right there at the table as he’s making these decisions.”

“She’s not ready to be commander-in-chief,” Waltz declared.

Waltz observed that it was the third anniversary of Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, which resulted in the deaths of 13 American troops and left the Taliban in charge — with billions of dollars’ worth in American weapons.

At the time of the planning of the withdrawal, Harris boasted that she played a key role in the Afghanistan decision, which the administration scheduled for September 11, 2021, rather than May 1, which was the date Trump had chosen.

Biden wanted to choose the 20th anniversary of September 11 for symbolic reasons. But that date marked an American defeat; May 1, 2021, the 10th anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, marked an American victory.

In addition, the later date allowed the Taliban to mobilize during the summer “fighting season.” Biden later moved up the date of the withdrawal to August 31, but the Taliban were already on the move, overwhelming government forces.

Waltz noted that, in Harris’s own words, she was “the last one in the room” when the withdrawal decision was made.

In April 2021, Harris appeared on CNN to claim credit for the Afghanistan withdrawal. CNN’s Dana Bash reported: “Vice President Kamala Harris’ role inside the Biden administration is taking shape. The president has said he wants her to be the last person in the room when he makes a big decision.”

Bash and Harris had the following exchange:

BASH: President Biden always said that he wants you to be the last person in the room…

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: … particularly for big decisions, just as he was for President Obama.

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: He just made a really big decision, Afghanistan.

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: Were you the last person in the room?

HARRIS: Yes.

BASH: And you feel comfortable?

HARRIS: I do.

Asked whether Trump could be as effective on foreign policy in a second term as he was in the first, given that he would no longer be as unpredictable to foreign adversaries as he once had been, Waltz that Trump had the ability to deter America’s enemies.

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) gestures as he speaks at Trump Tower, Chicago, Illinois, about Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, arguing that they are not ready to lead the nation’s military and foreign policies. August 21, 2024. (Joel Pollak / Breitbart News)

“President Trump’s unpredictability was an aspect of deterrence. But he also demonstrated it,” Waltz said, citing Trump’s strike on Iranian terror general Qasem Soleimani — which Biden and Harris opposed.

Earlier, in a press briefing, Waltz also took Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to task for lying about aspects of his military service, including his rank, his participation in war, and his reasons for retiring before his unit deployed to Iraq.

Waltz also questioned Walz’s many trips to China. Walz introduced students to “Chinese communist propaganda,” the congressman said, questioning whether Walz would stand up to China and defend U.S. interests.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.