Former Biden officials are anonymously taking aim at one of their own, ex-HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra, as he appears to ascend in the California gubernatorial race.
Becerra has emerged as a leading Democratic candidate in California’s jungle primary for governor after Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s dramatic exit from the race last month.
His rise, however, is mystifying his former Biden administration colleagues, according to a report from Politico.
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“Six former Biden administration officials, all of whom were granted anonymity to speak candidly about a former colleague, acknowledged the subject of Becerra’s unlikely rise has come to dominate their group chats and conversations,” Politico reported Thursday.
“‘It gets the biggest laugh every time we send around a poll,’ the first former official said, describing the perception across the administration that the former HHS secretary was ineffective on the COVID response, a migrant health crisis at the border and other matters,” Politico continued. “‘He ran one of the most consequential agencies in government at the height of the pandemic. But he took a backseat to Dr. Fauci and his team, didn’t visibly lead on implementation and had to go through layers to get to POTUS even as a Cabinet member.'”
A second unnamed Biden official reportedly echoed that sentiment and called Becerra “absent” from the administration’s COVID response. A third official called his appointment by former President Joe Biden “an unfortunate choice.”
A fourth official said Becerra was “very good at being a politician” but “When people noticed he wasn’t cut out for [the Cabinet] was when there was a crisis — it was clear he didn’t know how to handle that.”
“He would go to brief the president and was not prepared at all, almost to the point where it was an embarrassment,” they told Politico. “Biden would pepper him with questions and he would not be able to answer them.”
Xochitl Hinojosa, the former Biden DOJ communications director, stunned a CNN panel this week by knocking Becerra during the network’s post-gubernatorial debate coverage.
Whoever is going to be governor will have to stand up to Donald Trump. Can I tell you, after working in Joe Biden’s administration? I do not trust Xavier Becerra to do that,” Hinojosa said. “”Because when I saw him in the administration, and I think a lot of people did, and it‘s people understand this. It‘s he was not effective in governing. And I think that a lot of people in the Biden administration are talking about this because they realize that he was not an effective HHS secretary.”
Becerra did have some Biden-era defenders. Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, a supporter of Becerra’s gubernatorial bid, told Politico that Becerra “was one of the most effective members of the president’s Cabinet and delivered on the president’s agenda very powerfully and had a record.”
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Former White House official Neera Tanden also went to bat for Becerra, calling Hinojosa’s comments “bs.”
“He delivered on Medicare Drug negotiation, $35 insulin and got health care coverage for 14 million more people. We appreciated that he got big things done. And the least favorite cabinet secretary? Well that might have been closer to your old neck of the woods,” Becerra told Hinojosa, alluding to Biden Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The Becerra campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital‘s request for comment.
