Here Are the 5 Most Eye-Opening Bits From Kamala Harris’s Scathing New Book Excerpt

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Kamala Harris is pulling no punches in her upcoming memoir 107 Days, with a first-look excerpt published Wednesday by The Atlantic that gives a scathing and highly personal insider account of former President Joe Biden’s ill-fated 2024 election ambitions and her own scramble to win.

The former vice president, who became the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out just 107 days before the 2024 election, delivered her sharpest critique yet, pulling back the curtain on the tense culture inside the White House, Biden’s faltering debate performance, and the cold shoulder Harris says she received from his team.

Here are five of the most eye-opening revelations from the release:

1. Joe and Jill Biden Pushed 2024 Gamble

Joe and Jill Biden were effectively steering the Democratic Party into the 2024 election, insisting that he be the nominee and, Harris argued, the rest of the party followed in a trance.

“It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.” We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized. Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness. The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.

2. Harris Fumes Biden Barely Mentioned Her in His Oval Office Exit Speech

Even after Biden relented and announced he would not seek reelection, Harris fumes the president offered her a little more than an afterthought.

In his highly anticipated Oval Office address, meant to steady Democrats and signal a seamless handoff to his vice president, Harris recalls that Biden went nearly the entire speech without naming her. For the woman about to lead the ticket, the nod landed more like a snub than a passing of the torch.

It was just after 5 p.m. in Houston, and the president would be addressing the nation from the Oval Office later that evening.

I watched it at the hotel that night. It was a good speech, drawing on the history of the presidency to locate his own place within it. But as my staff later pointed out, it was almost nine minutes into the 11-minute address before he mentioned me.

“I want to thank our great vice president, Kamala Harris. She is experienced, she’s tough, she’s capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me and leader for our country.”

And that was it.

3. Harris Defends Biden’s Debate Fumble as Exhaustion, Not Cognitive Decline

Harris pushes back on one of the most damaging narratives of the 2024 race: that Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump was evidence of cognitive decline.

Instead, holding the line pushed by the White House at the time, she chalks it up to sheer exhaustion from a punishing schedule that would have tested anyone, she argues, let alone an 81-year-old president.

Many people want to spin up a narrative of some big conspiracy at the White House to hide Joe Biden’s infirmity. Here is the truth as I lived it. Joe Biden was a smart guy with long experience and deep conviction, able to discharge the duties of president. On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best.

But at 81, Joe got tired. That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles. I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser. I don’t believe it was incapacity. If I believed that, I would have said so. As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country.

4. Harris Felt She Couldn’t Tell Biden to Drop Out – She Feared Doing So Would Appear ‘Self-Serving’

Harris admits she never urged Biden to abandon his reelection bid, even as doubts about his age and stamina mounted. The politics of the moment, she says, made it impossible. As his vice president, any suggestion that he step aside would look like a power grab.

During all those months of growing panic, should I have told Joe to consider not running? Perhaps. But the American people had chosen him before in the same matchup. Maybe he was right to believe that they would do so again.

And of all the people in the White House, I was in the worst position to make the case that he should drop out. I knew it would come off to him as incredibly self-serving if I advised him not to run. He would see it as naked ambition, perhaps as poisonous disloyalty, even if my only message was: Don’t let the other guy win.

5. Harris Claims Biden’s White House Deliberately Fuelled Media Attacks Against Her

Harris doesn’t just say the West Wing failed to defend her, she accuses Biden’s team of actively feeding the negative narratives that dogged her tenure.

She recalls being hammered by Fox News and right-wing outlets over everything from her laugh to her dating history, only to watch the White House stand aside. Likewise, she accused Biden’s team of refusing to promote her successes.

When Fox News attacked me on everything from my laugh, to my tone of voice, to whom I’d dated in my 20s, or claimed I was a “DEI hire,” the White House rarely pushed back with my actual résumé: two terms elected D.A., top cop in the second-largest department of justice in the United States, senator representing one in eight Americans.

[During one visit to France] I said “the Plan” with exaggerated emphasis and air quotes. Fox News, the New York Post, and Newsmax went wild, claiming I’d faked a French accent. This was total nonsense, but the White House seemed glad to let reporting about my “gaffe” overwhelm the significant thaw in foreign relations I’d achieved.

Worse, I often learned that the president’s staff was adding fuel to negative narratives that sprang up around me. One narrative that took a stubborn hold was that I had a “chaotic” office and unusually high staff turnover during my first year.

[…] And when the stories were unfair or inaccurate, the president’s inner circle seemed fine with it. Indeed, it seemed as if they decided I should be knocked down a little bit more.

107 Days, published by Simon & Schuster, will hit bookshelves on Sept. 23, 2025.