Doug Emhoff reportedly isn't allowed to text Kamala Harris, so they communicate through staff instead

• McClatchy reported that Doug Emhoff can't text his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris.
• Instead, they send messages to each other through their staffs.

Among the many adjustments that come with life in the White House, McClatchy White House correspondent Francesca Chambers reported that second gentleman Doug Emhoff is not allowed to text his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris.

If he does want to talk to her, members of his staff have to coordinate with Harris' staff to see when she has time available, then walk Emhoff from his office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building to meet with Harris in the West Wing, according to the report.

Harris also has a ceremonial office in the EEOB, and she has been known to stop by Emhoff's desk to say hello when she's in the building, according to McClatchy.

Aside from cyber security risks, texting on government-issued phones presents an issue because the Presidential Records Act requires that administrations archive all written communications, Politico reported. The Biden administration has worked around this with software that automatically archives text messages in compliance with public records laws, but only certain staffers have texting capabilities.

Politicians sending messages to each other through their staff is nothing new

In a 2018 interview on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," former first lady Michelle Obama spoke about how she would communicate with her husband through their chiefs of staff about work-related matters.

"If I wanted to deliver a real message, I did it through staffs," she said. "So I had my chief of staff talk to his chief of staff which was the same thing, essentially, but it avoided us having discussions about stuff at home. So we had intermediaries when it came to business."

One person that Emhoff can text consistently is Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The two bonded on the 2020 campaign trail as spouses of candidates, and Buttigieg told Politico's Eugene Daniels in May that he and Emhoff "trade texts quite often."