Joe Biden's heated exchange with Kamala Harris during last week's debate has become a defining moment in the Democratic primary. | Joshua Lott/Getty Images 2020 Elections Biden: I 'wasn't prepared' for Harris's attack in debate

Former Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged in an interview that aired Friday morning that he “wasn't prepared” to come under fire from Sen. Kamala Harris in the first Democratic presidential primary debate, defending his widely panned response to the California lawmaker’s critique of his record on race.

“I was prepared for them to come after me,” Biden said to CNN of the field of 2020 Democrats he shared the stage with last week in Miami.


“But I wasn't prepared for the person coming at me the way she came at [me],” Biden continued, referring specifically to Harris. “She knew Beau, she knows me. I don’t — anyway, I — but here's the deal. What I do know, and it’s the good news and the bad news: the American people think they know me, and they know me.”

Harris and Beau Biden, Joe Biden's son who died of brain cancer in 2015, served together as attorneys general of their respective states, California and Delaware.

Harris has surged in 2020 polls in the wake of her performance last week, powered in large part by her forceful attack of Biden's record on racial issues — specifically his warm recollection of working with segregationist senators and his opposition to federally mandated busing to better integrate schools.

The heated exchange immediately became a defining moment of the Democratic primary's early going, provoking doubts about Biden’s perceived inevitability as the party's nominee and readiness to scrap with Donald Trump in the months ahead.





Countering Harris’s attack during the debate, Biden claimed she had misrepresented his record, offering a rebuttal anchored in a defense of local governments' and states’ rights on the issue of busing. He concluded his argument with a concession to the forum's timed format, saying: “Anyway, my time's up. I'm sorry.”

Biden told CNN that his decision to cut his answer short represented a desire to not “get in that scrum” with fellow Democrats.

“Do you think the American public looked at that debate, take me out of it, and thought, ‘Boy, I really like the way that's been conducted. They're really showing themselves to do really well,’” Biden said. “Come on, man.”

Biden plugged his endorsement by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, “a black woman who's a great leader,” the morning after his clash with Harris, and insisted he was not perturbed by post-debate polling showing diminishing African American support for his campaign.

“I'm making the point to you, I don't see it. People know who I am,” he told CNN.

Biden also sought during the interview to assuage concerns that he may not be the Democrat best-equipped to wage rhetorical battle against Trump during the general election campaign.

“I don't think I'm having trouble sparring," Biden said, adding: "This is ironic. I've never been accused of being — not being able to spar. I've been accused of being too aggressive."

Biden went on to describe the president as "the bully that I knew my whole life" and "the bully that I've always stood up to," who "used to make fun when I was a kid and would stutter and I smacked him in the mouth."

Trump pushed back against that insult Friday, telling reporters outside the White House: "I don't think I'm a bully at all. I just don't like being taken advantage of by other countries, by pharmaceutical companies, by all of the people that have taken advantage of this country."

Several surveys conducted following the first Democratic debate show that Biden’s status as the party's front-runner has become precarious, with Harris surging to second place nationally in a CNN/SRSS poll and a Quinnipiac University survey . A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Wednesday has Harris tied for third place with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — another debate night standout.

Biden’s support in Iowa has also deteriorated, with a USA Today and Suffolk University poll showing Harris trailing him in second place at 16 percent to Biden’s 24 percent. A Focus on Rural America survey puts Biden in third place in the first-in-the-nation caucus state with 17 percent, behind Harris at 18 percent and top-finisher Warren at 20 percent.

Biden declined to tell CNN whether he would consider naming Harris his vice presidential nominee should he capture the party's nomination, a potential Democratic ticket that has been promoted by several members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“Look, one of the things I'm not going to get into because it got news before is when I was asked — I don't even have the nomination, and I'm presuming who I might pick as a vice president," Biden said. "That's easily flipped on me and saying, ‘Well, Biden's being arrogant. Biden thinks I'll have him as my vice president.’ So I'm not going to comment on any individual.”

Prior to Biden’s official entrance into the presidential race in April, media reports indicated that his tentative campaign was considering offering former Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, a black woman, the role of his running mate. Abrams dismissed those rumors and is still mulling her own presidential bid.

“If I started naming some of the people around the country, women who are not running for president, as well, who are fully qualified to be vice president — again, it’d be awfully presumptuous, man," Biden said.

Questioned by CNN whether he believes he would need to name a female running mate if he wins the Democratic nomination, Biden replied that “it would be great" to have a woman as vice president.

"And if I don't win, it would be great to have a female president," Biden said. "But the question is, whose issues are best prepared in their wheelhouse? They've demonstrated they know how to deal with them?”

But Biden evaded revealing whether he would consider not naming a woman as his running mate, and said it would be possible for Democrats to win in 2020 with an all-male ticket.

“The answer is yes, but I don’t think that — I think it helps having a woman on the ticket, and there's a lot of really qualified women out there,” Biden said.