The alliance between Kamala Harris and Laurene Powell Jobs is a genuine friendship that has thrust the press-shy billionaire philanthropist into the political spotlight.
After then-vice president Joe Biden swore in Kamala Harris as a United States senator in January 2017, they posed for a customary photo in the Capitol with her family. Then she asked her future boss for a favour: Would he indulge in one more photo?The first member of Harris’ entourage to approach Biden just happened to be one of the richest people in the world: Laurene Powell Jobs.
US President Joe Biden posthumously presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Laurene Powell Jobs in honour of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, in 2022.And Powell Jobs, who is so close to the vice president that her staff refers to her simply as “LPJ”, is positioned to have extraordinary influence, or at least access, in a potential Harris administration.
Laurene Powell Jobs and her son Reed arrive to attend a state dinner in honour of French President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron hosted by US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the White House in 2022.Politicians often use the word “friend” to describe patrons who can power their campaigns and careers. Neither Harris nor Powell Jobs, who both zealously guard their privacy, would comment for this story.
Powell Jobs was, like her late husband, an enigma – but she had sweeping ambitions. Politicians began to seek her out. Michelle Obama invited her to sit in her box during her husband’s State of the Union address in 2012. Hillary Clinton cultivated her, and Powell Jobs hosted a 20-person, $US200,000-a-head event for Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. She struck up a friendship with Kevin McCarthy, the former Republican speaker of the House.
But Powell Jobs’ relationship with Biden has been trickier. She has been a major shareholder in Apple and Disney, and has bristled at some Biden policy positions that she considers anti-tech. She expressed frustration over what she considered hostile rhetoric from the president about rich people and Silicon Valley.
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