On Monday’s “The Weeknight,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro defended his criticism of former Vice President Kamala Harris after he said the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee spread “blatant lies” about him in her new memoir about her campaign.
In a recent profile for The Atlantic, Shapiro called Harris’ recollection of their meetings, when he was in contention to become her running mate, “complete and utter bullshit.”
During Monday’s interview, co-host Symone Sanders Townsend told Shapiro they would have to address “some of the elephants in the room.” She said the “political streets were on fire for a little bit” over the magazine piece, noting that the section about Harris was “raising some eyebrows.”
“What were you trying to signal in that moment, sir?” the MS NOW host asked.
“There’s no parsing,” Shapiro responded. “Look, I stand by what I said.”
He added that he had an issue with how the profile’s author, Tim Alberta, described his emotions during the questioning over Harris. Alberta wrote that Shapiro “moved between outrage and exasperation,” which the governor said wasn’t accurate.
“But the words are mine, and I stand by them,” he said.
Shapiro also said that he did not believe Alberta accurately described the excerpts from Harris’ memoir, “107 Days,” and that he and the former vice president “had, and continue to have, very candid conversations.”
Sanders Townsend then pressed Shapiro, asking him whether he felt it “was important to correct the record” ahead of a possible presidential run in 2028, where he could face off against Harris in the Democratic primaries.
Shapiro said that was not his intention. “I was asked for my reaction to a statement that he said the vice president said that simply wasn’t true,” he said, adding that he thought it was “important to note that was before the book actually came out, and it was represented to me through that author.”
The Pennsylvania Democrat said the focus on his comments about Harris serves as a distraction from the actions of President Donald Trump and his administration.
“Here’s the thing, I’ve got respect for the former vice president, and I think we do everyone a disservice when we focus on looking backwards instead of looking forwards in terms of what we’re dealing with every day with the Trump administration making people’s lives more difficult,” he said.
“I’m choosing to fight the battles today against the Trump administration and look forward in ways that hopefully can lift people up, make people’s lives better. I think that’s what we need to be focused on.”
You can watch Shapiro’s full comments on “The Weeknight” in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW.