The current and former US presidents had a campaign chat at a funeral service<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US President Joe Biden has apparently shared his misgivings about Vice-President Kamala Harris\u2019 campaign with his old boss Barack Obama, a professional lip-reader told the New York Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden and Obama were filmed at the memorial service for Ethel Kennedy, wife of former US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, in Washington on Wednesday. The cameras did not catch the content of their conversation, so the Post hired an expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe\u2019s not as strong as me,\u201d said Biden, according to the lip-reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know\u2026 that\u2019s true,\u201d Obama reportedly replied, adding, \u201cWe have time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, we\u2019ll get it in time,\u201d Biden seems to have replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conversation was translated by Jeremy Freeman, a London-based forensic lip reader. Born deaf, Freeman has served as a certified police and media expert for 16 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Freeman\u2019s transcript, there is no mention of Harris by name, but it\u2019s unclear who else the two Democrats may have been discussing. He also described the conversation as \u201cvery supportive\u201d and said he detected \u201cno tension\u201d between Obama and Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden spokesman Andrew Bates \u201cscoffed\u201d at the Post\u2019s request for comment, asking the outlet if their \u201cusual right-wing soothsayer\u201d was on leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnly President Biden and President Obama know what they discussed, but this certainly wasn\u2019t it,\u201d Bates insisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An unnamed source close to Obama also said that the matter was between him and Biden alone, adding that \u201cany assertion otherwise is ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One former Biden White House official, who is now working to support Harris, told the Post that it\u2019s \u201cnot even like [Biden] to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another Democrat, likewise anonymous, commented that Harris was \u201cnot a strong alternative to Biden\u201d and that the party is now \u201cstuck with a less likable sinking ship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats quashed all primary challenges to Biden \u2013 including from Ethel\u2019s son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. \u2013 and had him debate Republican candidate Donald Trump at the end of June, before suddenly declaring he was too old and cognitively impaired to run again, but not enough to resign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For three weeks, Biden insisted that he was not dropping out, before announcing he would, via his personal X (formerly Twitter) account, on a Sunday evening. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly led the \u201cmutiny\u201d within the party. She and Biden have not spoken since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Harris enjoyed a \u201choneymoon\u201d in the media and the polls following the Democrats\u2019 convention in August, the most recent polling has shown her behind Trump in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n