In excerpts from his forthcoming memoir Where We Keep the Light, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro says a member of Vice President Kamala Harris’s vetting team asked whether he had been an Israeli “double agent” while he was being considered as a 2024 running mate. Shapiro called the question "offensive" and was told, "Well, we have to ask." He said the exchange highlighted concerns about some people around the vice president and left him uneasy despite professional vetting sessions.
Josh Shapiro Says Harris Vetting Team Asked If He Was An Israeli ‘Double Agent’ — He Calls The Question ‘Offensive’
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro says he was offended when a member of Vice President Kamala Harris’s vetting team asked whether he had been a “double agent” for Israel while he was being considered as her running mate during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Shapiro disclosed his irritation in excerpts from his forthcoming memoir, Where We Keep the Light, which were published by The New York Times. He wrote that the question came up late in the vetting process and that he told the questioner the line of inquiry was offensive. According to the Times, he was met with the reply, "Well, we have to ask."
“Had I been a double agent for Israel?” wrote Mr. Shapiro, describing a last-minute question from the vetting team.
Shapiro added that he understood the questioner was "just doing her job," but that being asked such a question "said a lot about some of the people around the VP." He also reported being pressed on other Israel-related topics during the sessions.
Shapiro had been widely viewed as one of the leading contenders to join Harris’s ticket after she replaced former President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee; Harris ultimately chose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Commentators, including CNN’s Jake Tapper, later speculated that Shapiro’s Jewish background and his public support for Israel after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks may have been factors in the selection process.
“I wondered whether these questions were being posed to just me — the only Jewish guy in the running — or if everyone who had not held a federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way,” Shapiro wrote, according to The Times.
He described the vetting sessions as “completely professional and businesslike,” but said he "just had a knot in my stomach through all of it." A spokesperson for Harris did not immediately respond to requests from The New York Times, the excerpts said.
The account appears in Shapiro’s memoir, which offers a first-person look at his experiences during the 2024 campaign and the brief vetting process. The initial report about the excerpt first appeared on Mediaite.
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