U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed back against a reporter’s suggestion during a press conference on Tuesday that “foreign policy is not Vice President Harris’s forte.”
“Has she been sort of learning on the job, basically?” the reporter asked, of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, whom President Joe Biden has endorsed as the Democratic nominee for president.
“In my experience, it very much is her forte,” Blinken said. “I’ve seen her not only around the world but I’ve seen her on the most critical foreign policy questions of our time in the Situation Room at the White House, in the Oval Office with the president, and my observation is she’s very strong, very effected—effective and deeply respected voice for our country around the world.”
“When she speaks, she speaks on behalf of the United States, and what I’ve observed in meetings that we’ve had with world leaders,” Blinken said, “she really commands the room these past three years.” He added that “she’s been a leading voice in our administration.”
“What I’ve seen is someone who is already deeply experienced and very, very effective around the world,” Blinken said. “I’ve seen her command the room full of world leaders from not only across Europe but across the world.”
