Harris says Biden administration failed to see either delta or omicron variants coming: report

close

Video

'The Five' wonders where Kamala Harris is

'The Five' panel reacts to the White House defending the vice president's job as border czar

Vice President Harris says the Biden administration foresaw neither the delta nor the omicron COVID-19 variants.

Both variants are currently present in the United States. The newer omicron variant is highly contagious and is expected to quickly replace the delta strain, which spread over the summer.

"We didn’t see Delta coming. I think most scientists did not — upon whose advice and direction we have relied — didn’t see Delta coming," she said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that was published Friday. "We didn’t see Omicron coming. And that’s the nature of what this, this awful virus has been, which as it turns out, has mutations and variants."

Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she departs after speaking at the Tribal Nations Summit in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Harris denied to the Times that President Biden had prematurely declared victory over the virus in the days before delta became prevalent in the United States.

"While the virus hasn’t been vanquished, we know this: It no longer controls our lives," he said July 4. "It no longer paralyzes our nation. And it’s within our power to make sure it never does again."

KAMALA HARRIS, GAFFE MACHINE: VP'S PUBLIC APPEARANCES MARKED BY AWKWARD MOMENTS, CONTROVERSIES

Harris is unpopular and has faced widespread criticism over her performance. She declined, though, to say whether her race or gender had contributed to the criticism.

"I’ll leave that to other people to evaluate," she said.

iStock (iStock)

Harris was once was viewed as an heir apparent to Biden, but Democrats are reportedly considering other alternatives as well should the president decide not to seek reelection.

Harris' performance in public has frequently been panned, alternatively as oddly inappropriate or robotic. She frequently sticks to her script.

Vice President Kamala Harris looks over documents during a meeting with President Joe Biden and members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

But her passion was on display Friday during the taping of an interview with media personality Charlamagne Tha God. When he suggested that Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was the de facto president given his ability to derail Biden's agenda, Harris would have none of it.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"It’s Joe Biden, and don’t start talking like a Republican, about asking whether or not he’s president," Harris said angrily. "And it's Joe Biden, and I'm vice president, and my name is Kamala Harris."

Harris then went on to cite several administration accomplishments.