Former President Joe Biden denied telling former Vice President Kamala Harris that there could be no “daylight” between them while she was on the campaign trail, and defended what was widely seen as a flubbed opportunity for the vice president to differentiate herself from Biden during her October 2024 interview on the ABC show.
Co-host Sunny Hostin brought up her question posed to Harris ahead of the election. Hostin asked at the time if there was anything the then-vice president would have done differently from Biden and Harris said “not a thing comes to mind.”
Hostin said the vice president’s answer was “weaponized against her,” and asked Biden about the reporting that he had told Harris “there could be no daylight” between the pair while she was campaigning.
“Well, look, first of all, I did not advise her to say that, number one. Like I said, I was vice president. I understand the role, number one. Number two, I think it was, I think she was talking about, she wouldn’t have changed the successes we had, not opposed to, we wouldn’t change anything at all. She has to be her own person, and she was. She was. And so I think that was used in a way that is contrary to what she meant by it, when she said that and I think that, you know, she was part of every success we had,” the former president said.
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A book, written by reporters Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen, alleged Biden “would say publicly that Harris should do what she must to win. But privately, including in conversations with her, he repeated an admonition: let there be no daylight between us.”
“But the day of the debate Biden called to give Harris an unusual kind of pep talk — and another reminder about the loyalty he demanded. No longer able to defend his own record, he expected Harris to protect his legacy,” they wrote. “Whether she won or lost the election, he thought, she would only harm him by publicly distancing herself from him — especially during a debate that would be watched by millions of Americans. To the extent that she wanted to forge her own path, Biden had no interest in giving her room to do so.”
Hostin asked the former president during the interview on Thursday to respond to critics who argued that he should have dropped out of the race sooner to give Harris more time, noting that Harris’ campaign was roughly 90 days.
“I say, number one, that there were still six full months, she was in every aspect, every decision I made, every decision we made, and I don’t think, I hope I don’t sound the wrong way. I don’t think anybody thought we’d be successful as we were,” Biden responded.
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Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, 2024. That left Harris with the full month of August, September and October to run her campaign, in addition to a few extra weeks.
The former president blamed sexism and racism for Harris’ loss and revealed he wasn’t surprised by Trump’s win.
Hostin has also blamed Harris’ loss on racism and misogyny after the election.
“As a country, it’s very difficult for people to believe that racism and misogyny, they’re just alive and well. I think that we don’t want to think that about ourselves, our neighbors, our friends, but it’s – my lived experience tells me that it does still exist, even if your lived experience doesn’t tell that it exists and, you know, the facts support that,” Hostin said, pointing to a graph that showed “a clear racial divide” in who voted for Trump as opposed to who voted for Harris.
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