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A top advisor to President Joe Biden isn’t happy that her reported profane tirades about Xavier Becerra have been lodged as a campaign attack by Republican Steve Hilton — insisting she supports the Dem frontrunner despite once branding him a “bitch-ass.”
Susan Rice, former diplomat and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Biden, said she backs Becerra for California governor in a furious statement posted Friday on X.
“Make no mistake, I support [Xavier Becerra],” Rice wrote, tagging Hilton. “So stop using my name against him.”
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Hilton invoked the notorious Washington insult during Tuesday’s CNN debate— also setting up a website titled “Bitch-ass Becerra,” intended to remind voters of Becerra’s lackluster reputation in the Biden administration during his time as Health and Human Services secretary.
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Rice berated Becerra in front of staff “at least once a week” over his handling of a child migrant crisis that exploded under his watch, a former White House source previously told The California Post. Staff were also appalled over Becerra’s callous remarks about migrant children, calling them “little Juanitos and Juanitas.”
Rice labeled Becerra, a career pol who was California Attorney General, an “idiot” as well as a “bitch-ass,” Axios reported in 2024.
“I do not think he is qualified to be the governor,” another Becerra ex-colleague told The Post. “I don’t think he’s qualified to be the boss of anything.”
In the post Friday morning, Rice made it clear she had a change of heart.
Hilton’s website, under the URL bitchassbecerra.com, depicts Becerra wearing a jacket plastered with corporate and union logos, including Chevron, Pacific Gas & Electric and the California Teachers Association.
“Chaos. Fraud. Child trafficking. Gender extremism. Higher costs for you,” the site says. “Empty Suit Becerra stood by and did nothing. He enabled it all.”
The past criticism from ex-Biden colleagues have proved to be a thorn in the Becerra campaign’s side as far back as the primary, which other rivals highlighted. Among them is former Biden administration official Xochitl Hinojosa, whose criticism during a CNN appearance in May stunned other Democrats.
“I don’t think that he will be able to stand up to Trump and lead,” Hinojosa said.
“He was not effective in governing. He was not an effective HHS secretary. And if you ask any cabinet secretary, they would tell you the same thing.”
A spokesperson for the Becerra campaign has dismissed former colleagues’ criticism as “jealousy.”
