Vice President Kamala Harris has been facing criticism over her response to a border question on her first foreign trip, and according to a new report, the fact that she was prepared for it is "all the more unnerving" to allies.
Harris during her recent trip to Guatemala and Mexico was questioned by NBC News' Lester Holt about why she hasn't visited the southern border, and when Holt pointed out that she hasn't done so, she said, "And I haven't been to Europe. I don't understand the point that you're making." Last week, The Hill reported that her comments "left almost everyone shaking their heads inside and outside the White House."
On Monday, CNN reported that Harris "had been prepped extensively by her team ahead of her first foreign trip, including for the question that tripped her up" about visiting the border. "The prep made her answer — pointing out that she had also not yet been to Europe — all the more unnerving to allies and administration officials, who were perplexed and concerned that the answers would overshadow an otherwise successful first foreign trip," CNN writes.
Harris reportedly participated in "a wide-ranging media training session" in April, but CNN writes that allies and former aides of the vice president saw her stumble on the border question as being "part of a broader pattern of messaging challenges" that she has faced going back to her presidential campaign.
"Watching Kamala Harris walk this weird tightrope on the border gives me flashbacks of her not having an answer for 'Medicare for All' or her position on busing," a former aide told CNN. "There's only so much staff can do to prepare her. At some point she has to stop being scared of herself." Read more at CNN.