Democrats close to Kamala Harris established a secret ‘death pool’ in case President Joe Biden died in office and the vice president needed to be sworn in.

As early as 2023 Democrats ‘strategized around the possibility that Biden might die in office’.

Jamal Simmons, who was then Harris’s White House communications director, led the effort to draw up a ‘death-pool roster’ of federal judges who might swear Harris in.

Authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes reveal the secret planning in their forthcoming book ‘Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,’ which is out next week.

Simmons ‘never told the vice president about the death-pool roster before leaving her camp in January 2023,’ according to the book, which was obtained by The Guardian, ‘but he advised colleagues that he should be notified immediately if something happened to Biden, because he had worked out an entire communications strategy. And he left the spreadsheet with another Harris aide.’ 

Kamala Harris’ team started planning in 2023 for her ascent if Joe Biden died in office

Biden, at 81, was the oldest person ever to be sworn in as president. Donald Trump railed against his rival’s age and questioned Biden’s mental abilities, referring to him as ‘Sleepy Joe.’

Democrats publicly defended Biden but, it turns out, they were privately preparing to replace him.

Harris’ Chief of Staff Lorraine Voles had been working on a contingency plan since November 19, 2021. That was the day Biden temporarily signed over presidential power to Harris when he underwent a colonoscopy.

The vice president’s team launched a stealth operation to have a plan ready in case they needed to take over, author Chris Whipple reveals in his upcoming book ‘Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds,’ which is out next month.

A Democratic operative told Whipple: ‘We just feel like we should put a plan in place. Maybe something happens,’ according to an excerpt of the book in Vanity Fair.

Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21, 2024 following his disastrous debate with Trump. 

Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21, 2024 following his disastrous debate with Donald Trump

Barack Obama campaigned for Kamala Harris but wanted a governor as Democratic nominee

But Parnes and Allen reveal in their book their were questions about Biden’s fitness from Democrats leading up to that point.

‘A handful of Democratic National Committee officials already had considered contingency plans,’ Allen and Parnes write. ‘In hush-hush talks starting in 2023, these officials gamed out Biden-withdrawal scenarios, according to two people familiar with them.

Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes book is out on April 

‘They wanted to make sure the party was ready for every possible circumstance: if Biden launched his campaign and then stepped aside before the primaries; if he won a bunch of primaries and then could not continue. If he secured enough delegates for winning the nomination but dropped out before winning a floor vote at the convention, and if he left a vacancy at the top of the ticket after taking the nomination.’

Biden stubbornly remained in the race, encouraged to do so by first lady Jill Biden and their son Hunter Biden.

He was so stubborn it took a month after the debate – and an intense pressure campaign from Democratic officials – to get him to step aside. 

Because in the days after the debate, the worries continued.

Two days after Biden fumbled on the Atlanta debate stage, he was in New Jersey for a fundraiser with Gov. Phil Murphy. 

He needed to have florescent tape on the carpet, ‘colorful bread crumbs [that] showed the leader of the free world where to walk’.

‘He knows to look for that,’ an aide said.

At the event, Biden spoke haltingly when he answered questions and needed cues for his remarks.

George Clooney, Joe Biden, Julia Roberts & Barack Obama at a Los Angeles fundraiser – Clooney would later say it was this fundraiser where he got concerned about Biden’s health

Nancy Pelosi helped push Joe Biden out of the race – their friendship never recovered

That wasn’t the only fundraiser that sparked concern. Those closed door events are filled with loyal Democrats whose financial support is critical to winning elections. It’s a chance for candidates to make a lasting impression.

Biden was not doing that. 

Actor George Clooney wrote an op-ed in the New York Times calling for Biden to leave the race just weeks after he and other Hollywood stars helped raise $30 million  for Biden at a Los Angeles fundraiser. 

Chris Whipple’s book is out April 8

‘I was raised to tell the truth,’ Clooney told ’60 Minutes’ Sunday of his piece. 

‘I had seen the president up close for his fundraiser, and I was surprised, and so I feel as if there were a lot of profiles in cowardice in my party through all of that. And I was not proud of that, and I also believed I had to tell the truth.’ 

Clooney’s essay sent shock waves through the public and led to a pile on of voices calling for Biden to step aside.

He did so, after repeated urging and a call from Nancy Pelosi, as DailyMail.com previously reported.

Biden promptly endorsed Harris but the vice president was not the top choice of everyone.

Both Pelosi and Barack Obama wanted a primary. And Obama favored having a governor, not Harris, as the nominee, Whipple reported in his book.

Harris, however, quickly garnered support among the party faithful and locked up the nomination within a week.

A Democratic operative told Parnes and Allen of their worry they would get stuck with Harris but still wanted Biden out: ‘Well, at least she has a pulse.’ 

Harris suffered a massive loss to Trump despite spending billions of dollars on her presidential campaign.