Harris declines to ask Vance for courtesy go to to vp’s residence earlier than inauguration
When JD Vance, his spouse Usha and their three younger kids transfer into the Naval Observatory residence on Jan. 20, will probably be their first time contained in the white Queen Anne-style mansion that has been dwelling to vice presidents because the Seventies.
Vice President Kamala Harris has not prolonged an invite for a proper sit-down or tour, a number of Democratic and Republican sources informed CBS Information.
In November, Usha Vance, through intermediaries, reached out to employees for the house’s present occupants, Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, searching for particulars together with what they would wish to childproof it. Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel Vance are all underneath the age of eight.
The questions have been initially rebuffed by a Harris political appointee. However there has since been communication between the Vance crew and Navy aides who oversee the residence.
Earlier than Christmas, Navy officers offered an outline of the home to debate the format of the residence, logistics and practicalities of the move-in, and to assist reply any questions the Vances had, an individual conversant in the decision stated.
Usha Vance spoke with Emhoff for about 40 minutes final week, sources stated. Harris sources stated that preparations are underway to accommodate the Vance kids.
Spokespeople for Vance and Harris declined to remark.
However individuals near Harris say she was by no means afforded a chance to go to the house earlier than she was sworn in in 2021. Nonetheless, she took workplace throughout the COVID outbreak, simply after the Capitol riot — and Donald Trump had refused to confess he had been defeated within the election.
Advisers to then-Vice President Mike Pence dispute that an invite was by no means supplied. They are saying he quietly gave Harris and Emhoff an opportunity to go to within the waning days of the Trump administration. The invitation got here discreetly as a result of Trump resisted accommodating the incoming administration.
No formal sit-down between Pence and Harris ever occurred, Democratic and Republican sources stated.
Folks near Harris defended her determination to not invite Vance to go to, a convention that was damaged throughout the Trump-Pence administration. Harris’ crew has been targeted on an abroad journey that was canceled and on the California wildfires.
In 2016, then-Vice President Biden and his spouse Jill hosted the Pences on the Northwest Washington residence not lengthy after the election.
“We’re simply very grateful for the hospitality as we speak of the vp and second woman,” Pence stated on the time.
Harris didn’t transfer into the Naval Observatory residence till April 2021, about three months after being sworn in, as a result of the home was in want of repairs.
