WASHINGTON — The White House and Vice President Kamala Harris’ team have been in frequent contact about how she plans to distance herself from President Joe Biden while maintaining her overall loyalty to him, according to three people familiar with the dynamic.

That’s why Biden’s comments Tuesday night that Harris would “go her own way” set the stage for her declaring in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday that her presidency would not be a “continuation” of his if elected, they said these people.

No one at the White House was surprised by the comments, one of the sources said, because the conversations took place privately before the Fox interview.

Biden strongly emphasized that Harris should “do whatever it takes” to win and that he understands she represents a new generation of leadership, this person said.

The Harris campaign, for its part, was aware of the need to clean up Harris’ answers last week when asked what she would do differently than Biden if elected and what changes she would make to her administration.

During the Fox interview, she discussed how her leadership style might differ from Biden’s decades of experience in Washington.

“Like every new president who takes office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences and fresh and new ideas,” Harris told Bret Baier. “I, for example, am someone who hasn’t spent most of my career in Washington.”

Harris’ team indicated to the White House that she would likely go beyond her initial comments on “The View” and “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” during the Fox interview, and that gave Biden the opportunity to follow up on his own comments the day before to give away. said two of the sources.

NBC News was first to report that Harris’ campaign was exploring ways to distance her from Biden following criticism of her interviews.

On Tuesday, Biden pointed to his own experiences as President Barack Obama’s vice president as an explanation for why Harris was able to put more distance between them in the final days of the race.

“Every president has to go his own way. I did that. “I was loyal to Barack Obama, but I forged my own path as president,” Biden said. “So far she has been loyal, but she will go her own way.”