Kamala Harris has opened up about the moment she knew 'something was a little off' with Joe Biden during his 2024 presidential campaign.
Biden's June 2024 debate against Donald Trump remains one of the most consequential political moments in recent history. His struggling performance and stumbling over words effectively ended his reelection bid and reshaped the presidential race.
But according to Kamala Harris, the warning signs appeared well before Biden took the debate stage.
Speaking on Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast on Thursday (October 30), the former vice president revealed she sensed 'something was off' with Biden months earlier.
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Harris pointed out a specific phone call from Biden while he was at debate preparation camp that concerned her.
During the call, Biden reportedly seemed feeble and forgetful, often stumbling over his words.
"He called me from debate camp [...] and I could tell something was a little off," Harris recalled. "And I was concerned about - I just, I don't think he wanted to debate, is my point."
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She explained: "He didn't want that debate. And you know, it's like any competition you go in, whether it's you're bidding for something, if it's sports, you gotta want it, right?
"If you don't wanna be in the competition, it will absolutely have an impact on your performance. I'm pretty sure he did not want to debate."
When Bartlett asked her how she knew, Harris replied: "Well, we had conversations about it. I think he got talked into it."
The Democrat said she deliberately watched the debate that evening with only a small team in Los Angeles so she could 'be candid' in her reaction, adding that 'there is no such thing as a perfect debate'.
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She added: "There will be something to clean up, and I expected that. And then, you know, we saw what we all saw."
Biden ultimately dropped out of the presidential race in July 2024, with Harris securing the Democratic nomination.
Looking back, Harris now questions whether she should've told Biden not to run for reelection. In her recently published memoir, 107 Days, which chronicles the 2024 election and her historic presidential campaign, Harris reflects on the dilemma.
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At the time, she worried such advice would seem 'self-serving' coming from the vice president who would naturally benefit from his decision to step aside, Harris told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow last month.
Maddow pressed Harris about a part of the book describing how everyone in the administration maintained that he and then-First Lady Jill Biden alone should determine whether he should run for reelection.
"We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized," the former VP wrote. "Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness."
However, speaking with Maddow, Harris took accountability: "I have and had a certain responsibility that I should've followed through on."
Topics: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, US News, Politics
Rebekah Jordan