(Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris defiantly maintained that she had “no regrets” about defending President Joe Biden’s mental fitness, even though concerns over his ability to serve led to him dropping out of the 2024 race, the New York Times reported.
Harris was asked about her defense of Biden during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Thursday, her first formal sit-down interview since Biden ended his reelection bid and endorsed Harris as his successor.
Even after Biden’s disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump in June, Harris insisted that Biden’s age and mental acuity were not a concern.
Asked whether she regrets those comments in light of recent events, Harris said, “No, not at all.”
Biden still “has the intelligence, the commitment and the judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president,” she continued, adding that she is “so proud” to have served alongside Biden.
Bash then pressed Harris on the unprecedented effort by Democrat leaders to force Biden out of the race, asking whether Harris had to ask Biden for his endorsement.
“He was very clear that he was gonna support me,” Harris responded. “He told me what he had decided to do. I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ and he said, ‘Yes.’”
Harris went on to praise Biden for being a “transformative” president.
“I think history is gonna show that in so many ways, it was transformative, be it on what we have accomplished around finally investing in America’s infrastructure, investing in new economics, in new industries, what we have done to bring our allies back together, and have confidence in who we are as America,” she claimed.
However, just minutes later, Harris argued Americans were ready to “turn the page” on the last decade—Biden’s four years in office included, as well as the final two years of Barack Obama’s presidency.
When Bash pointed this out, Harris claimed she wasn’t referring to Biden’s presidency.
“I’m talking about an era that started about a decade ago where there is some suggestion, warped I believe it to be, that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of where I believe most Americans are, which is to believe that the true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up,” she said.
