(Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the role Vice President Kamala Harris has played in the Biden administration’s foreign policy, a show of support for the presumptive nominee who’s seen as having a thin resume handling overseas affairs.
“These last three and a half years, I’ve been able to observe her very closely in the Situation Room, in the Oval Office, around the world, as a leading voice for American foreign policy and for our diplomacy,” Blinken said at the State Department’s headquarters in Washington on Tuesday.
“What I’ve observed is someone who asks, time and again, penetrating questions, who cuts to the chase, and is intensely focused on the interests of the American people,” he added.
Blinken, who stressed he normally avoids addressing domestic politics, spoke in a hastily arranged event Tuesday morning where he took a couple of questions on President Joe Biden — who he’s worked with for decades — and on Harris’s recent ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket.
Blinken added that Biden, who endorsed Harris after dropping out of the presidential race over the weekend, remains engaged on top issues, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as the Indo-Pacific.
Asked whether foreign policy was not Harris’s forte, given her focus on domestic politics before becoming vice president, Blinken replied that “it very much is her forte.” He mentioned her repeated trips to the Indo-Pacific and a trip to Africa, and said she “commanded the room” at the high-profile Munich security conference in Germany, attended by world leaders and national security professionals.
“My observation is she’s a very strong, very effective and deeply respected voice for our country around the world,” Blinken said. “When she speaks, she speaks on behalf of the United States.”
--With assistance from Courtney McBride.
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