Was Kamala Harris so desperate to become the next Vice President she sabotaged other candidates also being wondered for the role? Even Joe Biden himself suspected so.

According to a forthcoming book, while candidates can expect an onslaught of negative press something about this seemed more deliberate, even targeted” as the Biden team narrowed its search for his running mate.

The onslaught was “aimed at all of the most formidable Black women under consideration,” wrote Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns of the New York Times. “[E]xcept for Kamala Harris.”

The Washington Examiner reports:

California Rep. Karen Bass was pressed to answer for her warm remembrance of Fidel Castro and praise for the Church of Scientology as statements and videos circulated in news articles and on social media. Aides to Susan Rice, a White House national security adviser to former President Barack Obama, learned of a dossier that detailed criticism of her tough management style.

The deluge struck many as a tactical move. According to Martin and Burns, “Even Joe Biden wondered aloud: Was Harris’s team driving this?”

Bass had drawn strong support from California Democrats and allies in Washington, including former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, a member of Biden’s vice presidential search committee.

Biden was reportedly alarmed went the gloves came off for Harris.

“Biden was startled by some of the intra-state factional attacks on Harris by her fellow Democrats, including members of the state’s large congressional delegation,” the authors wrote in the book set to be published on May 3.

David Crane, a top adviser to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, was one of the multiple political operatives who lobbied for Bass as an alternative to Harris.

“In contrast to Kamala Harris,” Crane told Biden’s advisers, “Karen cares about something greater than herself.”