KAMALA Harris has been called out live on air for admitting that she would have run for president with Pete Buttigieg if he weren’t gay.
The former vice president scrambled to justify why she said it would have been “too big of a risk” to run her 2024 campaign with a gay man.
Kamala Harris, who passed over picking Pete Buttigieg for her running mate in 2024[/caption]
Harris wrote in her new memoir, 107 Days, that Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner – if I were a straight white man.”
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who is openly gay, grilled Harris to clarify the statement during her live TV appearance.
“I guess I’d ask you to just elaborate on that a little bit,” Maddow said.
She said it was “hard to hear” that Buttigieg wasn’t picked to be her running mate because he was gay, which quickly caused Harris to squirm.
“No, no, no, that’s not what I said, that he couldn’t be on the ticket because he is gay,” Harris interrupted Maddow, waving her finger at the anchor.
In her book, Harris wrote, “But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man.
“Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.”
During Maddow’s questioning, Harris doubled down on what she had written.
“You know, I’ve been an advocate and an ally of the LGBT community my entire life,” Harris said as Maddow nodded.
“So it wasn’t about any prejudice on my part, but we had such a short – we had such a short period of time.”
She added, “And the stakes were so high.”
Maddow wasn’t the only person who was stung by Harris’s concerns.
Buttigieg told Politico he had been surprised to learn that he was Harris’s first pick for a running mate.
The former transportation secretary said he would consider “giving Americans more credit” than to assume they wouldn’t vote for a diverse presidential ticket.
“My experience in politics has been that the way that you earn trust with voters is based mostly on what they think you’re going to do for their lives, not on categories,” Buttigieg told the outlet.
Harris wrote in her book that “to our mutual sadness,” Buttigieg understood her decision to pick Minnesota Governor Tim Walz over him.
However, Buttigieg said Harris never spoke about those concerns with him.
This isn’t Harris’ first time panicking during a hot-seat moment on live TV.
‘PIN ON A HAND GRENADE’
On Tuesday morning, she appeared on The View for the first time since she froze on a question that might have lost her the election.
During an interview on The View last October, Harris was asked if she would have done anything differently than former President Joe Biden.
She replied that nothing “comes to mind.”
“And I’ve been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact,” she said.
In her new book 107 Days, which was released on Tuesday, Harris reflected on the live gaffe.
“I had no idea I’d just pulled the pin on a hand grenade,” Harris wrote in the book.
“My staff were besides themselves,” she wrote, adding that the comment was a “gift to the Trump campaign.”
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