Vice President Kamala Harris is proving that she will play an important role in the White House by receiving calls from foreign leaders without President Biden.
A reading of the White House published on Monday showed that Harris called French President Emannuel Macron, where she “expressed her commitment to strengthening bilateral ties”.
“Vice President Harris and President Macron agreed on the need for close bilateral and multilateral cooperation to deal with COVID-19, climate change and support democracy in the country and in the world,” said the statement. “They also discussed several regional challenges, including those in the Middle East and Africa, and the need to address them together.”
The president himself made a call to Macron last month, on January 24th.
Although Biden knows many of the world leaders he will deal with since his tenure as vice president in the Obama administration, he probably hasn’t dealt much with Macron since he was elected in 2017.
A White House spokesman did not respond to Fox News’s request for comment.
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As noted by the Council on Foreign Relations, the role of the vice president in foreign policy has grown since the mid-twentieth century. Dick Cheney is credited with shaping President George W. Bush’s foreign policy priorities and Biden managed relations under President Barack Obama with several important countries.
However, conservatives have repeated concerns about Biden’s ability to serve his four-year term as the oldest elected president at 78.
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates questioned in 2019 whether older individuals, like Biden, have the mental acuity or energy needed for a president.
Leaving aside concerns about Biden, Harris has long been expected to have a central role in the administration.
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Biden is also under scrutiny for not speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
During a press conference on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki assured reporters that a call would happen “soon” – although she admitted that she could not give an exact date.
Psaki said Netanyahu would be the first leader in the region to receive a call from Biden and reaffirmed that Israel is an “important ally” of the United States.
Biden called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador the week he took office.
Harris also maintained an independent connection with Trudeau shortly after Biden.