Former First Lady Jill Biden leaned in close to Kamala Harris at Dick Cheney’s funeral and whispered something in her ear. Speculation immediately built as to what that was, and now a lip reader may have the answer. According to The Sun, this was definitely an awkward meeting. People watching expected things to be really tense, and it’s easy to see why.
This was the first time the Bidens and Harris were seen together in public since Harris put out her book called 107 Days. In that book, she strongly criticized her former president, which made the memorial service a very uncomfortable place for the two to talk.
The memorial service for the late Vice President Cheney happened at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and brought together many powerful politicians. The Bidens showed up and sat right next to Harris, who was sitting beside Mike Pence. They shook hands with several people before walking up to their seats.
The Bidens tried to ease the obvious tension
When they got to their row, Joe Biden said hello first. A lip reader named Nicola Hickling says he told her, “Nice to see you Kamala.” Then Jill said her four words, as interpreted by the lip reader: “He wasn’t ignoring you.”
After that, Harris shook her pointer finger, smiled, and said, “I know he wasn’t. I was thinking you’re going to look at me, but he didn’t.”
It seems like Harris was waiting for Joe to look at her, and Jill was trying to make things less awkward before George W. Bush started speaking. The reason everyone watched their interaction so closely is because of Harris’s book. She said the former president’s choice to run for re-election again was “reckless.”
Kamala Harris and Jill Biden, sharing an embrace.
— lindsaypic.twitter.com/Jkj3rMbjAU
(@virtueemoir29) November 20, 2025
Harris made it clear in her book that she thought the choice to run should have been bigger than just wanting power. She wrote that the decision “should have been more than a personal decision.” She added, “This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition.”
Cheney served alongside George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009. He died from heart disease on November 3 at the age of 84. The funeral brought in a huge crowd of political big names, including former presidents and vice presidents.
Attendees included Bush, who gave a speech about Cheney, along with Mike Pence, Al Gore, and Dan Quayle. Pence remembered Cheney as someone who helped guide him. Pence said that after he famously turned on Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election, Cheney told him, “You did the right thing.” Awkward political moments aren’t new to the Biden family, as Melania recently avoided Jill Biden at another high-profile event.
Some notable people didn’t show up either. President Trump didn’t come, because he wasn’t invited. Cheney and his daughter, former representative Liz Cheney, spent recent years criticizing President Trump’s leadership. Cheney once called the president a “coward.” Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were invited but didn’t attend either.
