In a revealing moment captured in Jill Biden’s upcoming memoir, then-Vice President Kamala Harris is depicted as taking a firm stance, much like a “courtroom prosecutor,” urging President Joe Biden to promptly endorse her candidacy for the 2024 Democratic nomination. This request came right after he made the unexpected decision to withdraw from seeking a second term. The memoir, titled “View from the East Wing,” is set for release on June 2.
The book provides an insider’s account of the pivotal conversation that took place on July 21, 2024. It was during this discussion that the 46th president conveyed his decision to Vice President Harris, marking him as the first sitting president to opt out of re-election since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968. According to an excerpt shared by USA Today, Harris’s reaction was one of surprise as she exclaimed, “Oh my God, Joe. Are you sure?” before quickly pivoting to secure his endorsement.
While President Biden suggested delaying the endorsement until the following morning, Harris was persistent, requesting, “I want it sooner.” Her insistence did not wane as she pressed for a more immediate timeline, asking, “Could you do it soon? Say, in 20 minutes?” This urgency seemed to overwhelm Jill Biden, who admits in her memoir that she felt compelled to leave the room at that moment.
When Joe Biden suggested waiting until the next morning to make an endorsement statement, Harris insisted: “I want it sooner.”
After the president said he would call her back “when I figure this out,” the veep pressed: “Could you do it soon? Say, in 20 minutes?”
At that point, Jill Biden writes, she walked out of the room, apparently unable to bear any more.
Joe Biden, the oldest-ever president, endorsed Harris in a separate statement released about half an hour after announcing he was dropping out of the race, forestalling an unprecedented “mini-primary” ahead of the following month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
