A forthcoming memoir by Jill Biden offers a behind-the-scenes account of the dramatic hours following President Joe Biden’s decision to abandon his 2024 re-election campaign, portraying Vice President Kamala Harris as aggressively pressing for an immediate presidential endorsement.
In her new book, View from the East Wing, scheduled for release on June 2, the former first lady describes a July 21, 2024, phone conversation in which Biden informed Harris that he would not seek another term, becoming the first sitting president since Lyndon Johnson in 1968 to step aside rather than pursue re-election.
According to excerpts published by USA Today, Jill Biden recalls Harris reacting with surprise when she heard the news.
“Oh my God, Joe. Are you sure?” Jill Biden recalls Harris saying before pushing for her boss’s backing, according to an excerpt reported by USA Today.
The memoir describes Harris as quickly turning the discussion toward securing Biden’s endorsement for her own candidacy.
When Joe Biden suggested postponing any endorsement announcement until the following morning, Harris reportedly objected and insisted: “I want it sooner.”
As Biden attempted to buy time and told Harris he would reconnect with her after reaching a decision, she continued to press the issue.
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?”
Jill Biden writes that she ultimately removed herself from the conversation, suggesting she had heard enough of the exchange.
At that point, Jill Biden writes, she walked out of the room, apparently unable to bear any more.
Within roughly 30 minutes of announcing his withdrawal from the race, Biden publicly endorsed Harris in a separate statement, effectively ending any possibility of a contested fight for the Democratic nomination ahead of the party’s convention in Chicago the following month.
The book also revisits the long-standing tensions between Harris and Jill Biden, whose strained relationship dates back years before they served together in the White House.
One of the most notable flashpoints came during a Democratic primary debate in 2019, when Harris sharply criticized Biden over his earlier opposition to federally mandated busing programs intended to promote school integration.
Jill Biden later defended her husband in a call with supporters, expressing outrage over Harris’ attack.
“With what he cares about, what he fights for, what he’s committed to, you get up there and call him a racist without basis?”
According to reports cited in the memoir, Jill Biden’s reservations about Harris did not end there. After Joe Biden secured the Democratic nomination, she reportedly opposed selecting Harris as his running mate.
As recounted in the book, Jill questioned the decision at the time, saying: “There are millions of people in the United States. Why do we have to choose the one who attacked Joe?”
{Matzav.com}
Kamala is a failed human being. She can’t seem to hang on to any of her marriages and relationships. How in the world can she be the leader of the free world?
Love when the demonrats cannibalize each other!!
Jill you’re asking a good question but the answer is a sad reality… your husband has a serious problem that has followed him through his life and has cost him dearly in his political life and that is, he talks without thinking and tends to say the first thing that comes into his head without any consideration of consequence..
At some point in the campaign- perhaps in the debate he pledged that if elected president he’ll have a black woman join his ticket. And that was it! he was stuck with that pledge and ultimately there were two lousy choices Kamala or Stacey Abrams and so he went with the lesser of the two evils. And that’s why Jill, you and our country was stuck with Kuckkalle Harris for four years…