Ken Salazar, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico under President Joe Biden, considered running for president against his former boss in 2024, he revealed.
"I should run for president," Salazar told himself, after Biden's disastrous July 2024 debate performance, according to a book excerpt obtained by Politico.
Salazar also claimed that he begged for a border czar and early on advised Biden to refer to the U.S. border situation as a crisis.
"There was political failure to understand the reality of the crisis at the border, and the political consequence it would have on Democrats in the 2024 election.
President Joe Biden is greeted by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar upon his arrival at Felipe Angeles International Airport in Zumpango, Mexico, on Jan. 8, 2023. (Fernando Llano/AP)
Salazar claimed that within the administration, officials used the word "crisis" all the time, "even if at that time the White House refused to acknowledge it as such."
When Salazar advised then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to use the word, Mayorkas apparently told him: "Ken, I have a lot on my plate already. I’m about to be impeached for all this border stuff. The Republicans have it out for me."
Salazar never ended up declaring himself as a candidate despite recruiting a team and drafting a presidential platform, Politico reported.
BIDEN AIDES WARNED DONORS DROPPING OUT AND RUNNING KAMALA HARRIS WOULD BE A MISTAKE: BOOK
He had planned to throw his name into consideration when Biden dropped out, but the Democratic Party never held open primaries, instead choosing to coronate Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's candidate unilaterally, a decision Salazar called "a mistake," per Politico.
Salazar criticized Harris' action, or lack thereof, on the
