Meena Harris, the industrious and outspoken cousin of Vice President Kamala Harris, is creating an optics issue for the White House.
Meena, 36, flew to the inauguration in the private plane of a Biden inauguration donor and posted on her Instagram stories about the trip.
The Stanford and Harvard law graduate has a children’s book about her aunt and mother who is number 4 on the New York Times bestseller list – ‘Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea’.
MILWAUKEE, WI – AUGUST 19: In this snapshot of the livelihood of the DNCC of the Democratic National Convention in 2020, Meena Harris, cousin of Kamala Harris, addresses the virtual gathering on August 19, 2020. (Photo by DNCC via Getty Images) ( Photo by Handout / DNCC via Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
The book was published in June 2020, before Kamala was vice president, and thus does not break any laws. But White House officials told Politico that the book could not be published today because it used Kamala’s name and parable. It is unclear whether Meena may continue to draw royalties for the book, and she will not say whether it is yet.
After members of President Biden’s family in his years as senator and vice president apparently benefited from the government, the White House sought to renounce any further ethical violations. “It is the policy of the White House that the President’s name should not be used in connection with commercial activities to propose or in any way; in any way it can be reasonably understood to imply his endorsement or support, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday.
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In December, advocates of the transition said they were drafting new ethical rules for businesses of the Biden and Harris families that “are likely to be more restrictive than the rules governing the Obama administration,” according to The Washington Post.
The office of the VP takes the same view. “The Vice President and her family will maintain the highest ethical standards and it is the policy of the White House that the name of the Vice President should not be used in connection with commercial activities that can reasonably be understood as an endorsement. or support, “Vice President’s spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said in a statement to Politico.
The day after the inauguration, transitional ethics lawyers had to tell Meena that she could not sell a number of items for her clothing brand Phenomenal that exposed her aunt’s name – the ‘Kamala Harris Swimsuit’, ‘the phenomenal Kamala Tank’ and ‘Kamala T-shirt. ‘The items that appeared last fall are no longer listed on her website.
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Phenomenal sold other items that Kamala referred to during the campaign, including an MVP sweater, which stands for ‘Mrs Vice President’, and another with the phrase ‘I speak’ on the front, which refers to Kamala’s repeated line during her debate with former Vice President Mike Pence.
After Biden chose Kamala as a running mate in August, Meena convinced the Biden team to sell a shirt in the campaign store with her name and that of co-influencer Cleo Wade. The shirt says ‘THE FIRST BUT NOT THE LAST’, along with a photo of a young Kamala, referring to Kamala’s historic swearing in as first female vice president.
The Biden campaign agrees, but by September 6, Meena’s name was removed as a collaborator, according to an internet archive dug up by Politico.
“For the sake of appearance, Meena’s name was removed because we did not want to make it look like she would benefit from the campaign,” a White House official said, adding that Meena or Wade did not make any money. did not deserve the campaign. shirt.
This month, Meena was again handcuffed by ethics advocates when her clothing company, in collaboration with Beats at Dre, decorated the same phrase ‘The First But Not The Last’ with Beats headphones that they posted to influencers and celebrities before the inauguration. According to Axios, the Biden team was not made aware of the collaboration beforehand.
In her latest venture, Meena announced weeks after the election that she was starting a production company with Brad Jenkins, a former associate of the Obama White House, Phenomenal Productions.
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A day before the inauguration day, Supermajority Education Fund released an ad featuring clips from Kamala produced by Meena and the company. The White House reportedly said it did not know if Meena was being paid for her time producing the ad, but if it were, it would violate ethics. Asked if she was paid by Supermajority, Meena did not answer.