Kamala Harris Said She Wasn’t Going to ‘Pile On’ to Biden Criticism
Kamala Harris joined Stephen Colbert on The Late Show Thursday for her first interview since the 2024 election. Though the late-night appearance was pegged to her new memoir, “107 Days,” which recounts her short-lived bid for the White House, the former vice-president briefly spoke about the uncomfortable topic of Joe Biden’s age and his decision to drop out of the race.
Colbert asked Harris what it was like having to navigate trying to differentiate herself as a candidate while still working alongside Biden, whose unpopularity was rising by the day. She began by saying she addresses the topic in her book, suggesting that Colbert was bringing up a subject that would take a much longer span of time to talk about. But Harris made it clear that she had no plans to add her voice to the growing criticism of Biden at the time.
“It’s an instinct of mine to be someone who does not participate in piling on, and I was not going to pile on. I just wasn’t gonna do that. And there was a lot of piling on, and I wasn’t going to participate in that,” she said.
Colbert also asked Harris about the period of time between Biden’s disastrous debate performance and his decision to drop out of the race, inquiring if anyone in her inner circle advised her to prepare for potentially having to step in for Biden. “There were some who did,” Harris admitted. “But, listen, it was Joe’s decision, and he made that decision.”
While Biden himself has stated numerous times following the election that he could have beaten Trump, there is seemingly no ill will between the two as Harris still offered praise for her former running mate. “Let me say something about Joe Biden. I have an incredible amount of respect for him. I think that the way that we should be thinking about where we are right now is we had a president of the United States who believed in the rule of law, who believed in the importance of aspiring to have integrity and to do the work on behalf of the people. And that’s where I’ll leave that.”
Earlier this week, Harris officially took her name out of the running for the 2026 California gubernatorial election, but notably did not close the door to seeking public office sometime in the future. In the interview, Harris said she decided that, for now, she didn’t want to jump back into the political system, declaring it “broken.”
“I believe, and I always believed, that as fragile as our democracy is, our systems would be strong enough to defend our most fundamental principles. And I think right now, they’re not as strong as they need to be,” she said. “For now, I don’t want to go back into the system. I want to travel the country. I want to listen to people. I want to talk with people. And I don’t want it to be transactional where I’m asking for their vote.”
Harris denounced what she saw as politicians’ “capitulation” to Trump since he took office, admitting that she didn’t see that coming. “I think there are a lot of people who think they’re riding out the storm as an excuse to be feckless,” she said.
She continued, “We designed our democracy with three independent, coequal branches of government. When you see that the president of the United States is trying to get rid of the Department of Education and Congress has the role and the responsibility to stand in the way of that and they’re just sitting on their hands and then they go on recess ’cause they don’t want to have to deal with transparency? Come on.”
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