Former Vice President Kamala Harris is back in the national spotlight with her forthcoming book about her short-lived 2024 White House campaign, and she is generating a buzz about whether she'll try again in 2028.
While politicos are keenly watching Harris for her next moves, she's also being eyed by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., who is investigating whether top Biden administration officials covered up evidence of a mental decline in former President Joe Biden.
Comer all but guaranteed his committee would be contacting Harris during an appearance on "The Ingraham Angle" last week. He joined Fox News Channel just after Harris announced she would not be running for governor of California, as some have speculated, and will instead embark on a listening tour to hear from Americans and try to boost fellow Democrats across the country.
"I think that that's another great thing about Kamala Harris not running for governor - she's gonna have more time to come before the House Oversight Committee and testify about Joe Biden's cognitive decline," Comer said. "So I think that the odds of Kamala Harris getting a subpoena are very high."
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During a recent appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," Harris distanced herself from any immediate electoral ambitions. She emphasized she wanted to hear from all voters, however, not necessarily ruling out a future presidential run.
"I believe, and I always believed, that as fragile as our democracy is, our systems would be strong enough to defend our most fundamental principles. And I think right now that, they're not as strong as they need to be," Harris said.
"And I just don't want to for now, I don't want to go back in the system. I want to, I want to travel the country. I want to listen to people. I want to talk with people. And I don't want it to be transactional, where I'm asking for their vote."
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Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor and professor at George Washington University Law School, told Fox News Digital the optics of a congressional subpoena would be less than ideal for a potential 2028 candidate.
"This is a tough question for Harris, who clearly has aspirations to run again," Turley said when asked if he would advise Harris to appear. "The committee can compel her to appear. However, the optics of forcing a subpoena are not exactly optimal for someone who wants to run again for this office."
He added, however, that Harris would be a "natural" target for Comer's probe.
"Harris held a unique spot within the inner circle of the White House," Turley said.
But both he and former House Oversight Committee ChairTrey Gowdy, R-S.C., now a Fox News Channel host, were doubtful that bringing Harris in would yield much new information.
"Is it worth investigating? Absolutely. Is it worth getting her take on it? Yeah. Is she going to cooperate? No," Gowdy told Fox News Digital.
The former South Carolina congressman, who also served as a federal prosecutor, predicted that Harris' lawyers would seek to bury any potential appearance in a quagmire of legal proceedings stemming from executive and/or presidential privilege claims.
"That privilege has been invoked by both parties repeatedly during congressional investigations," Gowdy said.
"Leaving the names out of it, just for the sake of an analogy, I can't think of an advisor that would be closer to a president than his or her vice president. So, by the time you're litigating the issue of whether or not you can compel a vice president to talk about conversations that he or she had with a chief of staff, with a spouse, with the president, with the president's physician - you'll be as old as I am by the time that's litigated."
Turley said House investigators would have to be armed with "specific" questions to avoid someone like Harris being able to answer with "a matter of opinion."
Gowdy agreed Harris was a "legitimate" witness to bring in and that the issue of Biden's autopen use, particularly for pardons, "warrants further scrutiny."
He warned, however, that a potent subpoena comes with consequences for noncompliance.
"Prosecutors can send cops and have [people] brought in. Congress can't do that. Judges can send the marshals or the sheriff's deputies out to bring a witness in if the witness is recalcitrant. Congress can't do that," Gowdy said. "So your power is only as good as what you can do to enforce it."
A spokesperson for Biden declined to comment on Comer's subpoena threat when reached by Fox News Digital.
Spokespeople for Harris and House Oversight Committee Democrats did not return requests for comment.
