Kamala Harris opens up about ‘complicated’ relationship with Biden, including when he ‘greatly disappointed’ her

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden speak to the media on the federal response to the Los Angeles wildfires at the White House on January 9. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource)

Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in an interview out Thursday, said a frustrating phone call with Joe Biden ahead of her debate with Donald Trump showed her that the former president wasn’t focused on her success – citing it as an example of why she has a “complicated” relationship with Biden.

“My takeaway is his motivation was all about himself,” she said on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast. “It wasn’t about my performance at the debate.”

Harris recounted the call, moments before her high-stakes confrontation with Trump, in which Biden told her “a group of people” were speaking poorly of her in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state, “because they heard I was saying bad things about him.”

“I was told that he wanted to call so that I’d be ready,” Harris said. “‘I was so sure it was to buck me up and (say) ‘go get ‘em’ … When I hung up the phone I was just – it was unbelievable, and I was – yes I was angry, and deeply disappointed. It was so unnecessary.”

The podcast appearance, part of Harris’ media tour promoting her book “107 Days,” marked the former vice president’s latest candid conversation rehashing what happened during her brief and unsuccessful bid for the presidency, as well as the fallout from her loss.

Harris said she is still friends with Biden, who she said had called her two days earlier for her birthday.

“I have a great deal of affection for him, and there were times, that I’ve been quite candid about, where he greatly disappointed me and, frankly, angered me,” she said.

Harris also discussed her perception of Biden’s mental state leading up to his disastrous June 2024 debate against now-President Trump. Harris said in the interview that she didn’t think Biden actually wanted to hold the early general election debate, but was talked into it.

“It’s like any competition you go in, whether it’s you’re bidding for something, if it’s sports – you gotta want it, right?” Harris said. “If you don’t want to be in the competition it will absolutely have an impact on your performance, and I don’t think he – I’m pretty sure he did not want to debate.”

The former vice president also suggested that she is open to running for president again.

“I think the case for running again is if I can make a difference,” she said. “If I feel that I can offer something as president of the United States that would be not only uplifting to the American people, but would be about getting us on a correct trajectory.”

Harris was asked if she thinks she can offer such a message to the country.

“I mean, that’s why I ran the last time,” she said. “We’ll have to see what happens over the course of these next few months, several months.”

Arit John, CNN