'What Is He Doing?': The Biden Gaffe That Reportedly Ticked Off The Harris Campaign

A cringey photo op with a “Trump 2024” hat prompted former Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign to seriously distance itself from former President Joe Biden, according to the new book, “Original Sin.”

“What is he doing?” Harris reportedly said in response to Biden’s actions at a Pennsylvania event, where he put on a Trump baseball hat over his own following encouragement from the crowd. The excerpt, which has been reported by The New York Post and The Daily Mail, is one of several revelations from journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, whose reporting documents Biden’s alleged decline and subsequent attempts to cover it up.

“This is completely unhelpful and so unnecessary,” Harris reportedly said regarding Biden’s decision to sport the cap.

A spokesperson for Harris didn’t immediately respond on Tuesday to HuffPost’s request for comment on the report.

The reported incident was one of several recounted in the book, which was released Tuesday, that have made headlines. Previously released excerpts include that Biden’s advisers considered whether he should use a wheelchair during the 2024 campaign and that some Biden administration officials worried whether he was up to handling an emergency in the middle of the night.

A Biden spokesperson previously said that they “await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job.”

And the former president’s granddaughter, Naomi Biden, slammed the book as “unoriginal, uninspired lies written by irresponsible self promoting journalists out to make a quick buck.”

At the time of the Pennsylvania gathering, the Biden White House claimed that he had worn the hat as a sign of unity since the event was to honor firefighters’ contributions during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap,” deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates wrote on X in September 2024.

The Trump campaign, however, capitalized on the images to quip that Biden’s support of Harris was waning. “Kamala did so bad in last night’s debate, Joe Biden just put on a Trump hat,” one Trump campaign post read.

Following the incident, the Harris campaign limited public events with Biden even as she made high-profile appearances with other surrogates, like former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.

Other Biden moments reportedly added to Harris’ headaches as well, including his response to comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who said at one point that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage.”

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said in response to Hinchcliffe, raising Republican ire over initial perceptions that he was trashing Trump supporters.