CHARLIE SPIERING The White House on Monday scrambled to support Vice President Kamala Harris from a damaging CNN report about her struggles.

The report detailed White House aides were exasperated with Harris and her team and the vice president felt unsupported by President Joe Bidenxe2x80x99s team.

xe2x80x9cFor anyone who needs to hear it, the Vice President is not only a vital partner to the president but a bold leader who has taken on key, important challenges facing the country xe2x80x94 from voting rights to addressing root causes of migration to expanding broadband,xe2x80x9d White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki wrote on Twitter after the story broke online Sunday night.

xe2x80x9cJust in case you missed it, let me leave this right here,xe2x80x9d she wrote.

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Monday pointedly shared a social media post calling Harris xe2x80x9ccapable and smartxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cfunny and kind.xe2x80x9d

The sudden reaction to the CNN story from the White House prompted mockery, especially after Psaki claimed Harris helped deliver on broadband and actually succeeded handling the migration crisis.

In the CNN story, Harrisxe2x80x99 allies complained the West Wing left Harris unprotected from political attacks, as some supporters noted they were much more supportive of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who was attacked for being on paid leave for months after he and his husband Chasten got twins.

The political tensions between Harris and Bidenxe2x80x99s teams havexc2xa0 been simmering in the first nine months of the Biden presidency as Harris struggled with her role on handling the border crisis.

Biden pointedly tried toxc2xa0acknowledge Harris after celebrating the passage of his infrastructure bill, even though he did not let her speak.

xe2x80x9cI feel xe2x80x94 I used to stand there and have to listen to the President,xe2x80x9d Biden noted. xe2x80x9cShexe2x80x99s got to stand and listen to the President, but she deserves an enormous amount of the credit.xe2x80x9d

The Harris team appeared upset the story was breaking after her trip to France, calling it xe2x80x9cunfortunatexe2x80x9d and complained that xe2x80x9csome in the media are focused on gossipxe2x80x9d instead of their success.

Both Biden and Harris are expected to celebrate the passage of the $1.3 trillion infrastructure bill at a signing ceremony at the White House on Monday.

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