Jill Biden didn't deny on Thursday that she told supporters that Kamala Harris could 'go f**k' herself after the June 201...
Jill Biden didn't deny on Thursday that she told supporters that Kamala Harris could 'go f**k' herself after the June 2019 Democratic primary debate where the then-candidate attacked Joe Biden for supporting racist bus policies.
'That was two years ago. We've moved on from that,' Biden said in response to a question from Dailymail.com. 'We are here to do vaccinations.'
The first lady, along with Dr. Anthony Fauci, was visiting a vaccination clinic at Children's National Hospital where the two urged teenagers to get vaccinated.
She brushed off reports of her vulgarity to focus on the visit.
Jill Biden didn't deny she told supporters that Kamala Harris could 'go f**k' herself after attacking her husband during Democratic primary
But, before Joe Biden selected Harris to run on his ticket as vice president, the first couple had a visceral reaction to her comments during the debate in Miami, Florida two summers ago, according to excerpt published in Politico from journalist Edward-Isaac Dovere's upcoming book on the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
And Jill Biden made her feelings very clear about Harris' attack on Biden's position on a controversial busing program in the 1970s.
'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?' Jill said on a phone call with close supporters a week after the debate, according to multiple people on the call.
'Go f**k yourself.'
Spokesperson for the first lady Michael LaRosa told Politico of the excerpt: 'Many books will be written on the 2020 campaign, with countless retellings of events — some accurate, some inaccurate.'
'The First Lady and her team do not plan to comment on any of them,' he added.
The first lady, along with Dr. Anthony Fauci , was visiting a vaccination clinic at Children's National Hospital where the two urged teenagers to get vaccinated
During the heated exchange in Miami in June 2019, Kamala Harris said she didn't think Joe Biden was 'racist', but suggested he supported racist policies. She also reminded the stage that she benefited from busing as a child
During the debate in 2019, during the height of the Democratic presidential primary, Biden was blindsided by Harris' attacks, which claimed he did not support desegregation of schools by way of busing in the 1970s.
Harris, a half-Indian half-Jamaican daughter of immigrants, reminded Biden at the time that she is a beneficiary of the busing system.
'That little girl was me,' she told him. Her attack raised her national profile, her fundraising and her position in the polls.
After the tense back-and-forth – one of the most memorable interactions on the 2020 campaign trail – moderators stopped for a commercial break.
'Well, that was some f***ing bulls**t,' Biden said to Pete Buttigieg on stage during it, multiple people said was relayed to them afterward.
Biden barely knew Buttigieg, a fellow Democratic candidate at the time and now the president's transportation secretary, but wanted to share in the moment with someone on stage.
During the debate, Harris said: 'As the only black person on this stage, I would like to speak, on the issue of race.'
Harris confronted Biden about his stance in the '70s against encouraging racial integration in schools. During that decade, then-Senator Biden worked with the two segregationists to try to prevent federal imposition of the policy.
She told him, 'I do not believe you are a racist. And I agree with you, when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground.'
'But I also believe – and it's personal, and I was actually very – it was hurtful, to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country,' she said.
'And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing,' she continued. 'And, you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day.'
'And that little girl was me. So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats. We have to take it seriously. We have to act swiftly. As Attorney General of California, I was very proud to put in place a requirement that all my special agents would wear body cameras and keep those cameras on,' she asserted.
Biden's ultimate response was to stop talking and more-or-less take the attack from Harris.
The book forthcoming details that Harris' team had to convince her to go after Biden in that way at the debate.
She eventually came around thinking 'it was a fair hit.'
The Bidens brushed off the attack once Harris was added to the presidential ticket, saying everyone had moved on.
'Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats' Campaigns to Defeat Trump' will hit bookshelves on May 25.
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