US Vice President Kamala Harris: “I am ready to serve my country”

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Biden deputy Kamala Harris

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Jim Watson/AFP

Is US President Joe Biden still fit enough for another term in office? Amid the debate over US President Joe Biden's age, Vice President Kamala Harris has taken a stand. »I am ready to serve my country. There is no doubt about that,” said the Democrat in an interview published by the Wall Street Journal on Monday. Everyone who sees her at work concludes that she is capable of leading.

According to the newspaper, the interview was conducted two days before the release of a special counsel report that contained unflattering assessments of President Biden's memory. In the report, special investigator Robert Hur dealt with the 81-year-old's document affair and decided not to press charges.

What caused a stir, however, was the assessment that Biden seemed like a "well-meaning, older man with a poor memory" and that his memories were sometimes "blurred" in conversations. Hur also cited the president's supposedly poor memory as an argument that a jury would never find the president guilty in a hypothetical trial.

Since Hur published his investigations into the documents affair, the US President has been under increasing pressure (you can read more about it here) - but the debate about his suitability for another term in office had already existed before: voters see Biden's advanced age as a big one weakness of the US Democrat, who is already the oldest president in US history and repeatedly causes a stir with slips of the tongue and mix-ups.

The Republicans enjoy exploiting Biden's verbal missteps - even though their prospective presidential candidate Trump also repeatedly raises eyebrows with his bizarre statements.

Biden, meanwhile, showed humor in view of the discussions: During a speech in Washington on investments and infrastructure on Monday, the 81-year-old tried to joke about the matter. "I know I don't look it, but I've been around for a while," the Democrat said, adding. “I still remember that.” The audience responded with laughter and applause.

sol/AFP