In her first interview Since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that she learned President Biden was ending his reelection bid when he called her personally to inform her.
During her interview with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash that on July 21, she received a phone call from Biden while she was with her family.
On the same day, Mr. Biden posted a letter on social media to announce his shocking decision to end his campaign.
“I’m going to give you a little too much information,” Harris said. “My family was home, including my nieces, and we had just had pancakes.”
“The family was sitting around doing a puzzle, and the phone rang and it was Joe Biden, and he told me what he had decided to do,” Harris said. “And I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ And that’s how I found out.”
The vice president did not directly answer questions about whether Mr. Biden had offered his support over the phone or whether she had specifically requested it.
“It was very clear he was going to support me,” Harris said.
In his July 21 letter, Biden did not immediately endorse Harris, but did so in another social media post shortly afterward. It was because of that endorsement that Harris was able to quickly assemble a coalition of supporters, discouraging other potential candidates and ending any chance of an open Democratic primary.
Mr Biden has faced increasing pressure to drop out of the race from a growing number of political leaders within his own party in the weeks since his disastrous defeat. Debate of June 27 against former President Donald Trump. But Harris maintained She gave him unwavering public support, calling him “our candidate” and saying she was “proud to be Joe Biden’s running mate.”
When Bash asked her if she regretted the way she defended Mr. Biden’s ability to stay for four more years, she said: “No, not at all.”
Harris told CNN that when she spoke to Biden on the phone that day, her “first thought was of him, to be honest,” not of her own candidacy.
“I think history will show us a number of things about Joe Biden’s presidency,” she said. “I think history will show that, in many ways, it was transformative.”
