The weather wasn’t the only chill in Washington Thursday.
Outgoing first lady Jill Biden took a flinty approach to Vice President Kamala Harris at the state funeral of President Jimmy Carter, barely appearing to acknowledge Harris and not exchanging any noticeable pleasantries as she sat next to the vice president in the front row at the National Cathedral.
Harris briefly held Jill Biden’s pocketbook for her as the first lady got situated. But after the VP passed it back, the two stared bleakly forward. President Biden, who was on the other side of Jill, also looked blankly into the distance, with his mouth hanging agape at one point.
Soon after, Jill Biden appeared to scootch away from Harris toward her husband.
This is not the first time Jill Biden and Harris have appeared frosty toward one another in the public eye. After the election, social media went into a frenzy after the pair seemingly gave one another the cold shoulder during their visit to Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day.
Ironically, last month, the first lady was caught on camera engaging in what appeared to be friendly banter with President-elect Donald Trump during the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Rumors of friction between the Democratic women have swirled for some time and gained steam after Harris’ defeat Nov. 5. Jill Biden had reportedly been irate with Harris after she took President Biden to task over his past opposition to desegregation busing during a 2020 campaign debate.
“Over the last four years, Vice President Harris and President Biden have not only developed a close working relationship as governing partners, but they have also built a strong friendship that continues today,” Harris’ spokesperson Kirsten Allen told The Post when asked about her boss’ rapport with the outgoing first lady.
“This friendship has extended to the First Lady and the Second Gentleman, including through their work together on a number of issues.”
But that was far from the only awkward encounter Thursday.
Harris sighs at Obama
At another point, Harris appeared to let out a sigh after spotting President-elect Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama chatting good-naturedly ahead of former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
The veep glanced over her left shoulder to spy the commanders-in-chief seemingly getting along in the row behind her, before whipping back around and staring straight ahead.
She then exhaled and seemingly rolled her eyes.
Obama allies were instrumental in paving the way for Harris, 60, to replace President Biden as the Democratic nominee after his disastrous June 27 debate performance against Trump.
Hollywood star and Dem megadonor George Clooney, a close pal of the 44th president, even authored a July 10, 2024, op-ed in the New York Times calling for Biden to abandon his re-election.
Weeks before Biden’s debate flop, he and Obama headlined a fundraiser in Los Angeles that Clooney had attended.
The 46th president suffered a freeze-up on stage at the time.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy claimed at the time that the former president was even secretly running Harris’ campaign by choosing to install his loyalists like ex-adviser David Plouffe.
“You’re getting the Obamas shifting from running the White House to now running this campaign,” McCarthy said on 770 WABC’s “The Cats Roundtable” last August.
But while he stumped for Harris on the campaign trail, Obama was apparently convinced that the vice president didn’t have the ability to beat Trump in 2024.
In an apparently candid assessment of Harris’ chances in October, President Biden whispered to Obama “she” is “not as strong as me.”“I know … that’s true,” the 44th president agreed, adding, “We have time.”
Jeremy Freeman, a London-based forensic lip reader who was born deaf and for 16 years has served as a University College London-certified expert witness for litigants, the police and journalists, previously translated the full Oct. 17 exchange for The Post.
It occurred the last time several US presidents congregated at Washington National Cathedral for the funeral service of Ethel Kennedy.
A week before the incident, Obama had admitted Harris’ campaign didn’t have the “same kinds of energy” as his successful 2008 and 2012 bids for the Oval Office.
Harris on Nov. 5 lost all seven key swing states — Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada — to Trump, giving him back the White House that he lost to Biden four years prior.
Since then, Harris and first gentleman Doug Emhoff have been observed having frosty relations with Biden and first lady Jill.
The lame-duck president and his wife completely ignored Harris and Emhoff at the Kennedy Center Honors in December.
Neither Biden nor Jill acknowledged the couple as they received a standing ovation and greeted the attendees.
Some pundits speculated that Biden had been itching for Harris to fail in the 2024 election after she succeeded him in the race.
Karen Pence ignores Trump
When Trump walked into the row behind Harris and Biden, he was greeted by former Vice President Al Gore and then by his own former Vice President Mike Pence, with whom he had a bitter falling out at the end of his first term.
While Pence greeted the president-elect and his wife, Melania Trump, Karen Pence remained seated and didn’t even appear to make significant eye contact with either of the Trumps.
Trump had publicly assailed Pence over his refusal to decertify his 2020 election loss, something which both Pence and many constitutional scholars have argued would’ve been unconstitutional.
During the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, some of the mob was heard chanting “hang Mike Pence.”
The ex-VP later mounted an unsuccessful 2024 GOP primary challenge against Trump and refrained from endorsing him.
Bush gives Obama belly bump, walks past Trump
When George W. Bush entered the row to take his seat, he tapped Obama on the belly with the back of his hand, while walking past Trump without shaking hands.
Former first lady Laura Bush began shaking hands with those behind them, including Gore and Pence. Upon noticing this, the 43rd president began turning around from his seat and exchanging pleasantries as well.
Former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also strolled in and shook hands with several figures seated behind them, including Gore and Pence — though Hillary initially ignored an overture from Bush.
The funeral marked one of the rare gatherings of the five living US presidents — Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden.
