It’s not just a meal: Inside the nation’s most secretive and exclusive power lunch
LA TimesPresident Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris walk after their first weekly lunch on Jan. 23, 2021. Though they differed in their tactics, the vice presidents had the same goal — maximizing their office’s most valuable hour, a weekly lunch with the president. “‘He’s really concerned with the turf battle that is going on between State and Treasury on various issues’ — which happened all the time.” Vice President Dan Quayle, left, and President George H.W. But, he added, “you’d be hard-pressed to find a president and a vice president that in the end of their term — eight years especially — that they actually liked each other.” Even President Trump, who smashed most traditions, kept the weekly lunch, though it was a more free-flowing and chaotic affair than in previous administrations. Former and current White House advisors acknowledge that Biden’s decades of experience in the Senate and two terms as vice president make it harder for Harris to assert herself in congressional strategy.
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