A communications director for former Vice President Kamala Harris created a so-called “death-pool roster” of federal judges appointed by a Republican that could swear in Harris as president – in the event that President Joe Biden suddenly died, according to a new book.
The book, “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,” published Tuesday by William Morrow and Company, claims that Harris’ White House communications director Jamal Simmons crafted an entire communications strategy to employ in the event of Biden’s death.
The book, authored by political journalists Jonathan Allen of NBC News and Amie Parnes of the Hill, said Simmons imagined that losing Biden unexpectedly would be akin to when Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in on Air Force One following John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
But he worried people would question her legitimacy as president, and was specifically concerned that “Trump people” would go “apes—” if Harris became president, the book claims.
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President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff attend a campaign event in Manassas, Virginia, on Jan. 23, 2024. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
“Simmons believed Harris would be strengthened by an institutional stamp of approval if she were sworn in hurriedly because Biden had died unexpectedly,” Allen and Parnes wrote. “Her legitimacy might be questioned, he worried, recalling the January 6 effort to stop Biden from being certified as president.”
As a result, Simmons created a spreadsheet of various judges nominated by a Republican who might be equipped to help bolster her legitimacy.
“The strongest validator, he believed, would be a federal judge who had been appointed by a Republican other than Trump,” Allen and Parnes wrote. “He compiled a spreadsheet of those jurists across the country, down to a city-by-city breakdown, and carried it with him when he traveled with Harris.”
Simmons said he never told Harris about the so-called “death-pool roster” before his departure with her communications team in January 2023, however he instructed colleagues to notify him immediately if something did happen to Biden so he could implement the communications strategy. Ultimately, Simmons left the spreadsheet with another Harris staffer, according to the book.
The book did not specify which judges were included on the list.
Harris, who previously served as a senator from California, is now a speaker with CAA Speakers, which represents high-profile celebrities. CAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
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President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on stage at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards Dinner in Washington, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The book also includes details revealing how former President Barack Obama remained hesitant to back Harris in the 2024 election to replace Biden, amid concerns about his mental fitness, while also doubting Biden and Harris’ political abilities.
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According to the book, Obama didn’t believe Harris could beat now-President Donald Trump in the November 2024 race – an issue that frustrated Harris.
“Fight” chronicles how Trump secured the White House for a second term and the ramifications of his victory on the Democratic Party. Allen and Parnes conducted interviews with more than 150 political insiders for the book, according to the book’s description.
