Kamala Harris: “Readers Excited for the New Book ‘107 Days’
Former Vice President Kamala Harris watched the run towards the president in her new memoir, “107 Days.”
NEW YORK – Kamala Harris’ first event on the multi-city book tour was destroyed by several pro-Palestinian protesters on September 24th, with the former vice president suggesting that his early position in the Israeli Hamas war was not a lockstep with the Joe Biden administration.
“People in our administration can tell you what my voice is in those rooms (these closed rooms) and in the oval offices,” Harris said to a packed venue in New York City. “I was not president. I couldn’t make a decision, but I made it clear.”
The event was the first stop on Harris’ book tour to promote her new memoir, “107 Days,” which ran towards the president in 2024.
At least three protesters suspended Harris at the first first event of an on-stage interview event at Manhattan Town Hall on Wednesday night. The protesters were loudly booed by a crowd of nearly 1,500 and escorted from the building by security. Groups of more than 12 people also gathered outside the venue to enhance the presence of law enforcement.
Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza has been a central point of tension within the Democrats since the war began with Hamas’ fatal attack in 2023, and continues to plague Harris more than a decade after losing the election to Donald Trump.
After several interruptions, Harris began to deal with one of the protesters directly.
“I understand your concerns and your feelings,” she said. “I think so, I’ll do that. And the reality of that, in terms of the blank checks this President (Trump) gave us, we didn’t need to do this now.”
During the interruption, Harris told the crowd: “I’m not the president now. There’s nothing I can do.”
Harris also spoke about his speech he gave at the Edmund Petus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 3, 2024, where he condemned the developing crisis of Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. She first called for an immediate temporary ceasefire after months of pressure from activists and Democrats who wanted more from the administration to end the war.
“I took a lot of heat from the administration to do that,” Harris said of the speech. “There were a lot of people who didn’t like I was so powerful and candid about my concerns about what was going on in Gaza.”
Harris’ attempts to distance herself from the Biden administration in the Israel-Hamas war reflect the candid tone that some of the early reviewers and attendees at the event dominated her memoirs.
In one chapter, the former Democratic candidate rebuked Biden’s team for the way she was treated as vice president, both before and after Biden dropped out of the 2024 campaign. She wrote that Biden’s staff “fueled negative stories” around her, and said she had to prove her loyalty “again.”
Harris has written several times about tensions between her and the administration, but she also came to Biden’s defense for opposing allegations involving his mental fitness and for increasingly tribute to the former president’s job performance.
Contributed by Francesca Chambers, USA Today.
Kathryn Palmer is a political reporter for USA Today. You can contact her kapalmer@usatoday.com And with x @Kathrynplmr.
