Vice President Kamala Harris recalled the moment she received the call from President Joe Biden informing her of his decision to withdraw from the Presidential race. She revealed that she had just finished having pancakes with her family when she received the major news from the current president.
Harris, 59, recounted the major moment while confirming that she has no regrets about supporting her 81-year-old boss despite the controversy surrounding his mental fitness. When asked by CNN if she had any doubts about firmly defending Biden’s ability to serve another term, she replied, “No, not at all.” Harris said this at her first sit-down interview since Joe Biden dropped out.
The Historic Call from Biden to Harris
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Harris shared how she found out she might become the next Democratic presidential nominee. “I’ll give you a little too much information,” Harris said.
“My family was staying with us, and including my baby nieces. And we had just had pancakes,” she went on.
“We were sitting down to do a puzzle, and the phone rang, and it was Joe Biden and he told me what he had decided to do.”
Harris added: “‘I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes.'”
The vice president also took time to reflect on President Biden’s legacy in the White House.
“I think history is going to show that in so many ways [Biden’s presidency] was transformative, be it on what we have accomplished around finally investing in America’s infrastructure, investing in new economies and new industries, what we have done to bring our allies back together and have confidence in who we are as America,” she said.
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Harris showered Biden with praise, calling him “remarkably selfless” and commending him for prioritizing the “American people.” She also described her time in the administration as “one of the greatest honors of my career.”
During that phone call, Biden assured her that he would support her as the Democratic nominee, and Harris stressed that her “first thought wasn’t about me, to be honest with you, my first thought was about him.”
Harris Thinks Biden Still Fit to Run
The elderly president made the momentous decision to withdraw from the race on July 21, after weeks of increasing pressure from Democrats following his stumbling debate performance against former President Donald Trump in late June, which was hosted by CNN.
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Shortly after stepping down, Biden endorsed Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, helping her avoid an open convention. She quickly worked the phones for hours to secure support and swiftly clinched the nomination.
Harris had remained relatively quiet during the Democratic revolt against Biden and maintained a fairly low-profile public schedule during that period, answering few questions from reporters — a pattern that wasn’t unusual for her.
However, right after the debate, she made a TV appearance to defend Biden.
In her CNN interview, while praising the sitting president, Harris also made a point to juxtapose Biden with Trump.
“I have spent hours upon hours with him, be it in the Oval Office or the Situation Room. He has the intelligence, the commitment, and the judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president. By contrast, the former president has none of that,” she said.
Biden is set to join Harris on the campaign trail for the first time since her rise to the Democratic nomination, with an appearance in Pennsylvania on Monday after spending nearly two weeks away from the White House.
The vice president will then go head-to-head with Trump in a debate on ABC News in Philadelphia on September 10.
