Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) accused former Vice President Kamala Harris of telling “blatant lies” to write her postcampaign memoir “107 Days” and “cover her a–,” according to a profile about the governor published in The Atlantic on Wednesday.
Reporter Tim Alberta described Shapiro as “between outrage and exasperation as I relayed the excerpts” about him from Harris’s book. She accused Shapiro of taking over the conversation when he was interviewed to be her running mate, allegedly insisting on being “in the room for every decision,” Alberta wrote.
“She wrote that in her book?” Shapiro asked. “That’s complete bulls—. I can tell you that her accounts are just blatant lies.”
Alberta also told Shapiro about some of the questions Harris recounted him asking her during the interview, including about the size of the vice president’s Naval Observatory home and if the governor could loan Pennsylvania art for the residence.
Shapiro defended himself and said that anyone would ask questions “if someone was talking to you about forming a partnership and working together.” When asked if he felt betrayed by Harris, Shapiro “snapped,” Alberta wrote.
“I mean, she’s trying to sell books and cover her a–,” Shapiro responded before he backtracked and told Alberta, “I shouldn’t say ‘cover her a–.’ I think that’s not appropriate. She’s trying to sell books. Period.”
Harris passed on Shapiro, who was among the names floated to be her potential vice president, and instead chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D).
Shapiro also went after the Democratic Party, which lost the swing state he oversees to President Trump. The president won Pennsylvania with just more than 50 percent of the vote, while Harris received nearly 49 percent.
“Democrats lost ground in some of these communities by failing to show up and failing to treat people with a level of respect that they deserve,” Shapiro told Alberta. “Donald Trump has been a once-in-a-generation political figure who’s managed to connect on a deeper cultural level.”
In September, Shapiro jabbed Harris for not talking about former President Biden’s decision to drop out of the race. Shapiro was among the Democrats who questioned Biden’s physical fitness in running for a second term.
“I was direct with them,” Shapiro said on sports commentator Stephen A. Smith’s SiriusXM show. “I told them my concerns.”
At the time, Shapiro said he had not read “107 Days.”
The memoir was met with some criticism from other prominent Democrats, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Harris wrote that he was her “first choice” for a running mate, but that their ticket would have been “too risky.” Buttigieg said he was “surprised” to read that.
She also called California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to ask for an endorsement after Biden dropped out of the race, according to the book. She received the text reply, “Hiking. Will call back,” and said Newsom did not call her back.
Newsom told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” in October that he did not know why that “was even in the book.”
“And I sent out an endorsement a few minutes after [my text] as one of her first endorsements,” Newsom said. “I’ve known Kamala all my life. The last person she needs an endorsement from is me.”
Shapiro, Buttigieg, Newsom and Harris are all among the growing list of possible Democratic contenders in the 2028 presidential race.
