US Vice President Kamala Harris struggles to answer question related to inflation; Watch

US Vice President Kamala Harris seemed unprepared to give a definitive answer when questioned about an economy-related matter during an interview on Thursday, 30 December. This also highlighted her staffers' purported accusations that she often refuses to "delve into briefing materials." Speaking to CBS' "Face the Nation," the Vice President appeared to stumble on the basic issue of combating "transitory inflation". She even quickly changed the topic to President Joe Biden's $1.75 trillion "Build Back Better Act".

"We have to address the fact that we have got to deal with the fact that folks are paying for gas, paying for groceries, and... need solutions to it. So let's talk about that," Harris stated in response to the question. She further said, "Short-term solution includes what we need to do around the supply chain… So, we went to the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Savannah, Georgia, and said, 'hey, guys, no more five days a week, eight hours a day; 24/7, let's move the products because people need their product – they need what they need'. We are dealing with it in terms of the long term. And that's about what we need to do to pass 'Build Back Better.' It strengthens our economy". The video of the talk was shared on Twitter by Matt Whitlock, a Republican communicator. 

Watch the video here

This comes amid reports of a "toxic" environment in the US vice president's office, which has already led to the resignation of many staff members, including Harris' long-time adviser Symone Sanders and communications director Ashley Etien. Reports of chaos in Harris' office this summer and the resignation of staff members put the White House into damage control mode on many occasions. In November, the White House backed Harris, calling her an "essential partner" of the President. "The President chose the vice president as his running mate because he felt she was exactly the person he needed by his side to rule the country," White House press secretary Jen Psaki had said at a briefing, as per CNN.  

Media coverage related to me is often "biassed and opinionated": Kamala Harris

Meanwhile, Harris believes that media coverage related to her is often "biassed and opinionated" because of her race, and that coverage would be more positive if she was a "white male". Harris has told allies that the media "targets her unfairly" because she is Black and a woman, according to a report by the New York Times. It should be mentioned here that Kamala Harris is the first Black and Asian woman elected to the post of Vice President of the United States.   

Image: AP