Jill Biden told supporters that Kamala Harris could 'go f**k' herself after the June 2019 Democratic primary debate where the then-candidate attacked Joe Biden for supporting racist policies during his Senate career.
Before Joe Biden selected Harris to run on his ticket as vice president, the first couple had a visceral reaction to her comments during the debate in Miami, Florida two summers ago, according to excerpt published in Politico from journalist Edward-Isaac Dovere's upcoming book on the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
'With what he cares about, what he fights for, what he's committed to, you get up there and call him a racist without basis?' Jill said on a phone call with close supporters a week after the debate, according to multiple people on the call.
'Go f**k yourself.'
Spokesperson for the first lady Michael Larosa told Politico of the excerpt: 'Many books will be written on the 2020 campaign, with countless retellings of events — some accurate, some inaccurate.'
'The First Lady and her team do not plan to comment on any of them,' he added.
First Lady Jill Biden, according to a forthcoming book on the 2020 Democratic primary, told close supporters on a phone call the week after the 2019 Democratic primary debate that Kamala Harris could 'go f*** yourself' after attacking her husband for supporting busing and segregationist lawmakers in the 1970s
During the heated exchange in Miami in June 2019, Kamala Harris said she didn't think Joe Biden was 'racist', but suggested he supported racist policies. She also reminded the stage that she benefited from busing as a child
The book details that during a commercial break, Biden leaned over to then-candidate Pete Buttigieg and said after the exchange with Harris: 'Well, that was some f***ing bulls**t'
Biden was No. 2 to Barack Obama, the first black president in American history, from 2009-2017. After becoming the Democratic nominee for president in 2020, he chose Harris as his running mate and she later became the first minority and first woman to hold the position of vice president.
During the debate in 2019, Biden was blindsided by Harris' attacks, which claimed he did not support desegregation of schools by way of busing in the 1970s.
Harris, a half-Indian half-Jamaican daughter of immigrants, reminded Biden at the time that she is a beneficiary of the busing system.
After the tense back-and-forth – one of the most memorable interactions on the 2020 campaign trail – moderators stopped for a commercial break.
'Well, that was some f***ing bulls**t,' Biden said to Pete Buttigieg on stage during the commercial break, multiple people said was relayed to them afterward.
Biden barely knew Buttigieg, a fellow Democratic candidate at the time and now the president's transportation secretary, but wanted to share in the moment with someone on stage.
Nearly a year later, when Biden became the Democratic nominee, he chose Harris as his running mate and she soon thereafter became the first minority woman to hold the office of vice president. The first and second couples appear here on November 7, 2020 – shortly after winning the election
At some point during that debate in Miami, which was the first of the 2020 campaign season, Harris said: 'As the only black person on this stage, I would like to speak, on the issue of race.'
She said it was 'hurtful' Biden praised two notorious Democratic segregationists who he served with in the Senate in the 1970s.
One, James Eastland, from Mississippi, called African-Americans 'flesh eaters'; the other, Herman Talmadge, ran for the Senate on a pledge to stop blacks and whites eating together in the Capitol itself.
Biden revealed at a private fundraising event that Eastland 'didn't call me boy,' and said of their time in the Senate: 'At least there was some civility.'
Harris confronted Biden about the remarks and his stance in the '70s against encouraging racial integration in schools. During that decade, then-Senator Biden worked with the two segregationists to try to prevent federal imposition of the policy.
She told him, 'I do not believe you are a racist. And I agree with you, when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground.'
'But I also believe – and it's personal, and I was actually very – it was hurtful, to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country,' she said.
'And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing,' she continued. 'And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day.'
'And that little girl was me. So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly. As Attorney General of California, I was very proud to put in place a requirement that all my special agents would wear body cameras and keep those cameras on,' she asserted.
Biden's ultimate response was to stop talking and more-or-less take the attack from Harris, a minority woman.
A few weeks after the debate, new polling showed that while Biden didn't lose much steam after that brutal back-and-forth, Harris did get much higher numbers on being 'stronger' and more ready to fight.
Biden was asked about the poll during a campaign stop in Dearborn, Michigan.
'My guess,' he said at the time, 'is that to the extent that it occurs, I was probably overly polite in the way I didn't respond to an attack, 'You're not a racist' — which is a nice thing to say, really reassuring.'
The book forthcoming details that Harris' team had to convince her to go after Biden in that way at the debate.
She eventually came around thinking 'it was a fair hit.'
'Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump' will hit bookshelves on May 25.
Post a Comment