Shapiro Says Harris Vetting Team Questioned His Loyalty to Israel During VP Search

Pennsylvania governor recounts questions he viewed as antisemitic during 2024 vice-presidential screening, detailed in new memoir.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro says members of then–Vice President Kamala Harris’ vetting team questioned whether he was acting as an Israeli agent while evaluating him as a potential 2024 running mate, an episode he describes as deeply offensive and rooted in his Jewish identity.

In his memoir Where We Keep the Light, Shapiro writes that the scrutiny focused heavily on his views about Israel. He recounts being asked whether he had ever communicated with an undercover Israeli agent, a line of questioning he says carried clear antisemitic overtones. When he objected, Shapiro writes, the response he received was that the team “had to ask.”

According to Shapiro, the question came from former White House counsel Dana Remus, who was part of the vetting process. Shapiro recalls responding that if an agent were truly undercover, he would have no way of knowing. While he said he does not blame Remus personally, he added that the exchange revealed troubling attitudes among people close to Harris.

Neither Harris nor Remus commented publicly on the allegation, according to reporting by the New York Times in coverage of Shapiro’s memoir reported this week.

The Times noted that Shapiro, an outspoken critic of antisemitism on college campuses during the Israel-Hamas war, faced skepticism from the vetting team about that record. Shapiro writes that Harris asked whether he would apologize for statements he made about protests and speech at the University of Pennsylvania, an institution he had publicly defended while drawing lines around violence and intimidation. He says he refused.

“I believe in free speech, and I’ll defend it with all I’ve got,” Shapiro wrote, adding that while much campus speech was constitutionally protected, some crossed into non-peaceful conduct.

Shapiro also questioned whether he was singled out. “I wondered whether these questions were being posed to just me — the only Jewish guy in the running — or if everyone who had not held a federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way,” he wrote.

While describing the vetting team as professional, Shapiro said the process left him unsettled, writing that he carried “a knot in my stomach through all of it.”

This is not the first time Shapiro has publicly criticized Harris’ account of the vetting process. In December, he accused her of making false claims in her own memoir, 107 Days, an allegation previously reported during the book’s release. Shapiro said Harris mischaracterized their interview, claiming he dominated the conversation.

“That’s complete bullshit,” Shapiro said in an interview with The Atlantic, according to a profile published after the memoir dispute surfaced.

The Atlantic recounted Harris’ description of asking Shapiro questions about the vice president’s residence and whether Pennsylvania artwork could be loaned for the home. Shapiro later softened his language, saying Harris was trying to sell books, though he stood by his criticism of her portrayal.

The episode, Shapiro writes, underscored lingering concerns about how questions of Israel and antisemitism were handled at the highest levels of Democratic politics during the 2024 campaign.