Kamala Harris Confirms Report That Rob Reiner Yelled at Doug Emhoff

(AP Photo)

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has weighed in on a controversial report that actor and film director Rob Reiner screamed at her husband, Doug Emhoff, following a disastrous debate performance by then-President Joe Biden, which eventually led him to bow out of the race just 107 days before Election Day.

Harris’s new book, 107 Days, details her own shortened presidential campaign that followed. It has already made significant news for blaming Biden’s ego for his initial decision to run for reelection.

The report of Reiner’s exploding during the fateful Trump-Biden debate was first revealed in Original Sin, the book co-authored by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, which sheds light on the cover-up of Biden’s clear cognitive decline in the run-up to the 2024 election.

The reported confrontation between Reiner and Emhoff occurred at the Los Angeles home of James Costos last June. The Hill reported on the excerpt.

“The gathering had originally been planned as a fundraiser for the Biden Victory Fund, but then the debate was scheduled for the same night, so the hosts turned it into a fancy and hopefully fun debate watch party, with people sitting in three or four different rooms,” the Original Sin authors wrote.

It was a star-studded event that included Reiner, Emhoff, and Democratic Govs. Andy Beshear, JB Pritzker, and Gretchen Whitmer, and actor Jane Fonda, but it became a “debate watch horror show” as Biden repeatedly and dramatically stumbled against President Donald Trump. From the book:

A few minutes into it, Reiner, in the main living room, stated plainly: “We are fucked!” A few seats away, Fonda was equally distraught. Reiner, an outspoken Democrat and fundraiser, was terrified of another Trump presidency. And Democrats needed someone who could go head-to-head with Trump. Not someone who just stood there fumbling around, he felt. The world had been watching Biden for many months, even a year, as his capacity dwindled. Reiner became angry. Soon he was venting, standing, full of fury. He seemed to be looking at Emhoff. Daggers. “We’re going to lose our fucking democracy because of you!” Reiner yelled. Because of me? Emhoff thought.

Reiner has taken issue with this accounting, pushing back on the description in an interview with Rolling Stone.

Meanwhile, Reiner says he’s “really mad” at Jake Tapper for Original Sin, his new book with Alex Thompson about Joe Biden’s decline. The book features a dramatic scene during a star-studded Los Angeles debate party as Biden implodes: In its telling, Reiner begins yelling “We’re fucked! We’re going to lose our fucking democracy because of you,” directing the latter remark at another VIP guest: Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris’ husband, who is said to be taken aback.

Reiner says it’s absolutely true that he was yelling “we’re fucked” — “I did say that. There’s no question about it.” But he says he was “yelling at the wind,” not at Emhoff, and didn’t say “because of you.” A spokesperson for the book responds: “Jake and Alex stand by the reporting that has been confirmed by numerous sources in the room.” Representatives for the book also shared a screenshot from what they said was one of the sources, who wrote, “from what I remember, he did say, ‘because of you.’”

Tapper and Thompson hired a well-known meticulous fact-checker from The New Yorker, Fergus McIntosh, to review details before publishing.  But Reiner’s denial was pounced upon by many Biden loyalists as a means to undermine the books accounting.

It’s in this context that the former Vice President enters the fray in her new book, which ultimately supports Original Sin’s report. Harris writes:

As the ninety minutes ground on, my staffers watched with one eye on the big screen, the other on the small screens in their hands. They were tracking reactions on social media: “Disaster.” “Train wreck.” “Embarrassment.” Kirsten and Sheila were texting each other: Are other people seeing what we’re seeing? Is it as bad as we think? Doug, at a watch party with Hollywood donors, was getting an earful. Rob Reiner had screamed at him: “We’re going to lose our fucking democracy and it’s your fault!” During the final commercial break, I went to another room to quickly get makeup and hair touched up. Brian handed me the talking points the campaign had prepped. I glanced down at them. “JOE BIDEN WON” all caps, highlighted. “He fought through his cold as he is fighting for the American people.” Are you kidding me?

So there it is. It appears that there are multiple accounts of Reiner screaming at the former second gentleman.