On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” host and NBC News Chief Washington Correspondent and Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell stated that 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris “especially” “wanted to be part of the crisis response” to Hurricane Milton.
Mitchell said, “[T]his is a bit of a balancing act, because the president, the Vice President, responding to the hurricane, especially she wanted to be part of the crisis response, but also, [there] are very few days left, 26 days until Election Day. So, she’s got to balance what she does.”
NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Peter Alexander agreed, adding, “But, as you know well, when you’re the president or the Vice President, you take those responsibilities wherever you go and you have the ability to sort of conduct those duties wherever you are. So, she, of course, is in Las Vegas right now, participating in a Univision town hall that’ll air later today. As you note, she did virtually dial into that Situation Room briefing that took place a short time ago here at the White House, where Deanne Criswell, the FEMA Administrator, was a part of the conversation, also the homeland security adviser to the president participating in the briefings that President Biden was getting, frankly, through the night. We got an update last night, another one this morning. We’re going to hear from the Department of Homeland Security secretary a short time from now, at 1:00, he’s going to join Karine Jean-Pierre in the Briefing Room. The President, as you said, will speak at 2:00. But I think a point you make is a good one here. Kamala Harris, who heads off to Phoenix, part of this West Coast swing, for a rally this evening, trying to demonstrate as much her competence and her sort of capabilities as it relates to the ability to handle crises of this kind, as much as it is to sort of focus on the necessary message that she wants to get across in the course of her campaigning. So, the campaign message really is, she’s maintaining her efforts and her responsibilities as Vice President while trying to deliver a message for why she is best suited to help serve this country as president for the next four years.”
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