California Democrat Accuses Kamala Harris of Covering Up Biden Decline

A Democratic California gubernatorial candidate has accused former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra of being involved in an alleged "cover-up" of former President Joe Biden's health.

Newsweek reached out to Becerra and Harris for comment via email and media contact form, respectively.

Why It Matters

Biden's age and health became major concerns for voters during the 2024 presidential election, particularly after a widely panned debate performance against President Donald Trump in June that culminated in his exit from the campaign.

The Biden White House's transparency about his health has come under further scrutiny following the release of a new book, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, written by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.

Democrats tied to Biden are facing questions about what they knew about his health, and these questions could follow them into the future. This could have political ramifications for Harris, who has been floated as a potential California gubernatorial or 2028 presidential candidate.

What to Know

Concerns about whether administration officials engaged in a cover-up of Biden's health have already become a question in California's gubernatorial race. Harris has not said whether she plans to run, but Becerra has already announced his campaign.

Antonio Villaraigosa, the former Democratic mayor of Los Angeles who is also running, is demanding answers from the two Democrats about what they knew about Biden's health while serving in his administration.

"At the highest levels of our government, those in power were intentionally complicit or told outright lies in a systematic cover-up to keep Joe Biden's mental decline from the public," he said in a statement reported by The Los Angeles Times.

He continued: "Now, we have come to learn this cover-up includes two prominent California politicians who served as California Attorney General—one who is running for Governor and another who is thinking about running for Governor. Voters deserve to know the truth, what did Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra know, when did they know it, and most importantly, why didn't either of them speak out?"

Villaraigosa wrote in a post to X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) that the alleged cover-up "directly led to a second Donald Trump term—and as a result, all Californians are paying the price."

The book detailed incidents where Biden allegedly failed to recognize longtime friends including George Clooney and required increasingly restrictive scheduling to manage his energy. These allegations, as well as Biden's announcement that he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, have renewed conversations about his health this year.

The allegations raised in the book threaten to create a political headache for Democrats ahead of the 2028 race, as many prominent Democrats stood by Biden and dismissed questions about his health.

What People Are Saying

Becerra responded to Villaraigosa in a statement to The Los Angeles Times: "It's clear the President was getting older, but he made the mission clear: run the largest health agency in the world, expand care to millions more Americans than ever before, negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs, and pull us out of a worldwide pandemic. And we delivered."

Chuck Todd said during an episode of The Chuck ToddCast last week: "Gina Raimondo, if she thinks about running for president, Pete Buttigieg, all of these cabinet secretaries are now going to have to answer for all of this," he said. "I do wonder if it's going to make anybody that touches Biden persona non grata. Not just anybody directly in the Biden world."

What Happens Next

Biden administration officials are likely to continue facing questions about what they knew about Biden's health. Meanwhile, Harris could make a decision about whether to run in California by the end of the summer.