WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged that President Joe Biden got off to a “slow start” in his debate against Donald Trump on Thursday night, but she insisted he finished “strong” in a performance that sparked a new round of concerns within their own party on Biden’s suitability to be their standard-bearer.
“It was a slow start. That is clear to everyone. I’m not going to debate that,” Harris said in an interview on CNN after the debate. “I’m talking about the choice for November. I am talking about one of the most important elections in our collective lives.”
Harris gave interviews on CNN and MSNBC as Democratic panic mounted over Biden’s performance, leading to long-standing questions about whether the 81-year-old president should step aside.
While she acknowledged Biden’s mixed performance, Harris highlighted the core of Trump’s comments during the 90-minute debate, including his refusal to condemn the rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and his unwillingness to explicitly commit to accepting the results of the November elections.
She also said the contrast between Biden and Trump should ultimately lie in Biden’s performance in office, and not in one debate.
“I understand you’re having a debate tonight that’s about an hour and a half long. I’m talking about three and a half years of accomplishments in work that has been historic,” Harris said in a tense exchange with CNN host Anderson Cooper.
Harris continued: “The Joe Biden that I work with every day is someone who, as I said, has performed in a way that is designed to lure people, Republicans and Democrats, into the White House to compromise on a way that is extraordinary today.”
She concluded her MSNBC interview by saying that “only one of the two people on that debate stage, only one of them has the approval of his vice president. And let’s not forget that.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence has declined to endorse Trump this year. Trump pressured Pence to agree to his plan to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden.
