Harris: Biden ‘got tired’
Related video: New Harris book criticizes Biden
Former Vice President Kamala Harris revealed in her upcoming memoir “107 days” that former President Biden had gotten “tired” over the course of his reelection campaign, attributing his exhaustion in part to his age.
“On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump at his best,” Harris wrote in an excerpt of her memoir published in The Atlantic.
“But at 81, Joe got tired,” she continued. “That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles.”
Biden’s controversial decision to run for a second presidential term in 2024 led to widespread criticism due to concerns over his age and mental fitness.
Those concerns came to head during last year’s first presidential debate, where he stumbled at several key moments while facing off against President Trump.
“As soon as he walked onto the debate stage in Atlanta, I could see he wasn’t right,” Harris wrote.
Biden eventually dropped out of the race and Harris announced her presidential campaign shortly after.
Harris addressed rumors of Biden’s “infirmity” directly in her memoir, writing that he had been “able to discharge the duties of president.”
“I don’t believe it was incapacity,” she wrote. “If I believed that, I would have said so. As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country.”
But she added that Biden’s inner circle “should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.”
Not challenging his decision to run, she suggested, may have been “recklessness.” But she wrote she had been in the “worst position” to advise him to drop out.
“I knew it would come off to him as incredibly self-serving if I advised him not to run,” she wrote. “He would see it as naked ambition, perhaps as poisonous disloyalty, even if my only message was: Don’t let the other guy win.”
Harris ultimately lost the presidential election to Trump after waging a short campaign. Her book, which Harris described as a “candid, personal account of the shortest presidential campaign in modern history,” will be released next week.
Harris announced last month she would go on an international tour to 15 cities, including in the United Kingdom and Canada, for the memoir’s release.