White House correspondent Peter Doocy challenged Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday regarding a private lunch between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, held exactly one week after Harris’s loss to President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

The meeting, a regular occurrence for the pair, took on a new tone in the wake of the election defeat, sparking questions on whether tensions might have emerged.

During the daily press briefing, Doocy asked Jean-Pierre how the president and vice president’s post-election lunch had gone, wondering aloud about any possible tension. “We know that today, a week after the election, President Biden and Vice President Harris had a private lunch. How awkward was that?” Doocy inquired.

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Jean-Pierre appeared caught off guard by the question and pushed back, asking, “I don’t even understand. Why would it be awkward? Why would you characterize it as awkward? They have regular lunches, they meet and talk regularly. Why would you call it awkward?”

In his follow-up, Doocy pointed to the dynamics of the election campaign, noting Biden’s withdrawal from the race to support Harris’s candidacy.

He highlighted that Biden had been kept at “arms length” from Harris’s campaign efforts, ultimately to see her lose the race to Trump.

Jean-Pierre responded by underscoring the pair’s recent public appearance together, which took place the previous day at a Veterans Day memorial event. She reiterated that Biden and Harris “remain in regular contact.”

“So there’s no weirdness about the way that things have unfolded?” Doocy continued.

Jean-Pierre responded by pointing to their united front on Veterans Day. “Did you see them together yesterday as well when they honored our veterans and were together during the day making sure that we didn’t forget the brave men and women that fought for this country?” she asked. “Did you see the show of force together? This is… I’m not even gonna take the premise of this question. What I will say is the president and the vice president had lunch today, they’ve had lunch many times, they have — they communicate with each other regularly and had an opportunity to discuss the last 70 days or so of this administration, how important it is to get things done for the American people, and that’s their focus. That is genuinely their focus.”

Biden formally withdrew from the presidential race on July 21, publicly endorsing Harris following mounting pressure from prominent Democratic figures.

His departure from the race came on the heels of a June 27 debate, after which influential voices within the party called for fresh leadership.

Harris quickly launched her campaign, raising over $1 billion and avoiding media interviews until October, when she participated in a series of interviews largely with sympathetic outlets.

In the 2024 election, Trump defeated Harris by securing 312 electoral votes, claiming all seven battleground states.

The win made Trump the first Republican in two decades to secure both the Electoral College and the popular vote.

As Doocy pressed for further clarity on any behind-the-scenes friction, the White House continued to maintain that Biden and Harris are focused on advancing policy goals and maintaining stability during the remaining days of their administration.

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