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CNN anchor Jake Tapper couldn’t help but notice the icy non-greeting that was exchanged between President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses at the funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral on Thursday.
During CNN’s live broadcast of the funeral, Tapper observed that he “didn’t see a particularly warm greeting” between the Bidens and Harris, who was accompanied by her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Cameras were trained on the president and first lady as they made their way to their seats in the front pew — where Harris and Emhoff awaited them.
The first lady took her seat next to Harris with nary an acknowledgement or glance toward the vice president and second gentleman.
The president, who was seated in the aisle seat, also didn’t appear to make any eye contact with the Emhoffs as he sat down.
In the ensuing moments after the four were seated, they all proceeded to wear expressionless faces as the memorial service got underway.
Tapper noted that the solemn occasion may have explained the lack of a greeting between the two couples — although recent reports indicate that the post-election bad blood runs deep.
“There’s President Joe Biden and First Lady Joe Biden. And I think he has 11 days left as president of the United States. Obviously an eventful year, one that he did not plan for,” Tapper noted. His comments were reported by Mediaite.
A similar scenario played out last month at the 47th Kennedy Center Honors ceremony where the Bidens didn’t greet or acknowledge Harris as they entered the Washington, DC, venue to a standing ovation.
Just days after the election, the first lady appeared to give Harris the cold shoulder during a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Tapper noted that President Biden “started the year as a would be Democratic presidential nominee, and we all know what happened after that.”
Biden was forced out of the race by Democratic Party power brokers following his disastrous debate performance in late June in which he often failed to form coherent sentences and appeared frail and forgetful.
Harris was installed as the party’s nominee, which initially energized Democratic voters. But she faltered in the later stages of the race.
“Again, you didn’t see a particularly warm greeting between the first couple and the second couple. But again, we are at a funeral, so one has to take that into account when trying to read the body language of the individuals there,” Tapper said.
The Post has sought comment from the White House.
A Dec. 30 dispatch in the Wall Street Journal cited White House insiders who described relations between the Bidens and the Emhoffs as “frosty” in the wake of the disastrous Nov. 5 election that was won resoundingly b President-elect Donald Trump.
According to the Journal, the first lady was never enamored with Harris — particularly since the vice president hit out at her husband for opposing busing policies during the 2020 Democratic primaries when both were vying for the nomination.
Aides to Harris, for their part, have intimated that Biden stayed in the race too long and that he should have stepped aside sooner so as to allow the vice president more time to get her campaign in order, according to the Journal.
The president has stubbornly insisted against widely held views among Democrats that he would have beaten Trump had he stayed in the race, it has been reported.
White House representatives denied that there was a rift between the first and second couples.
Biden and Harris “are focused on delivering as many additional results for hardworking families as they can while finalizing the most groundbreaking record of any modern administration,” Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson, told the Journal.
Bates added that Biden isn’t “spending his time relitigating the election or engaging in counterfactuals.”
