❓WHAT HAPPENED: Kamala Harris’s team reportedly asked Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) if he was an Israeli double agent during the 2024 vice presidential selection process, as detailed in Shapiro’s new memoir.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Former Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Shapiro, Dana Remus (former White House counsel), and Harris’s vetting team.
📍WHEN & WHERE: During the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, as Harris considered her vice presidential running mate options.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Had I been a double agent for Israel?” Shapiro wrote, expressing his surprise at the question from Harris’s team.
🎯IMPACT: The revelations in Shapiro’s book highlight tensions during Harris’s campaign, and likely mark the beginning of jockeying by potential 2028 Democrat presidential primary candidates.
In his new memoir, Where We Keep the Light, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) revealed that Kamala Harris’s team asked if he was an Israeli double agent during the 2024 vice presidential selection process. The question, posed by Dana Remus, a former White House counsel, left Shapiro, who served as an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) volunteer in his twenties, stunned. “Had I been a double agent for Israel?” he wrote, describing his reaction to the inquiry.
Shapiro stated that the vetting team justified the question by saying, “Well, we have to ask.” He also alleged that Harris’s team wanted to know if he had communicated with undercover Israeli agents. Shapiro responded, “If they were undercover, I responded, how the hell would I know?” He later reflected that the question “said a lot about some of the people around the VP.”
Harris ultimately chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) as her running mate, a decision criticized by some at the time, given Shapiro’s status as governor of Pennsylvania, a critical swing state. Shapiro’s memoir also recounts his frustration with other questions from Harris’s team, including whether he would soften his criticisms of student protests against Israeli actions in Gaza. Shapiro maintained his position, stating, “It nagged at me that their questions weren’t really about substance. Rather, they were questioning my ideology, my approach, my worldview.”
Shapiro also suggested that Harris disliked her own role as vice president, citing her complaints about the lack of authority and amenities associated with the position. “I was surprised by how much she seemed to dislike the role,” he wrote. Harris, in her own memoir 107 Days, offered a different perspective, accusing Shapiro of having an ambition for power that exceeded the typical responsibilities of a vice president and expressing concerns about his “lack of discretion.”
The vetting meetings appear to have left the Pennsylvania governor notably disinclined to serve as Harris’s running mate, to the point that the Harris campaign and Remus took a few parting shots in a follow-up conversation. In their final conversation, Remus is alleged to have emphasized the financial burden of the vice presidency and noted Shapiro’s lack of personal wealth. Harris’s team also insisted that Shapiro’s wife, Lori, would need to purchase an entirely new wardrobe, and that the couple would have to pay for “Second Lady-level hair and makeup,” as well as food and entertainment at the Naval Observatory. “Are you trying to convince me not to do this?” Gov. Shapiro claims to have responded.
Join Pulse+ to comment below, and receive exclusive e-mail analyses.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
