“Your condition has not been affected as much as many around foreclosures, but Beau, as a matter of principle, said it is not right and I will support you,” Harris said of Biden, reflecting on the time the two served as Attorneys General of California and Delaware, respectively, during the 2010 foreclosure crisis.
“It was incredible how much heat we could handle, and Beau stayed there. Beau stayed there,” Harris told Abby Phillip of CNN in a special report scheduled to air Sunday night.
Harris had approached Biden, working on how to confront national banks during the crisis, when there was a wave of foreclosures initiated by major banks and other creditors. Biden died in 2015 of brain cancer at the age of 46.
Harris wrote in his memoirs, “The Truths We Hold”, that Beau Biden was “an incredible friend and colleague” who had the “principle and courage” to take on banks that were widely organized in Delaware.
“There were periods, when I was in heat, when Beau and I talked every day, sometimes several times a day,” wrote Harris. “We protected each other.”
California was one of the states most affected during the crisis, and banks began foreclosure on more than 1 million homes. “I concluded that what the banks were offering California was crumbs on the table. So I pulled California out of the negotiations,” Harris told Phillips.
Harris, in his interview with Phillip, also spoke about his background as a San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, which has been the subject of scrutiny and criticism by progressives.
“There are a lot of nuances in what it means to be a prosecutor, especially right now, that is, I think, the United States has long been coming to terms with a number of issues dealing with racial injustice,” said Harris.
And reflecting on his failed 2020 presidential candidacy in the interview, the vice president-elect told Phillip that “making the decision to leave a race is probably as difficult as making the decision to enter a race.”
“He spoke very lovingly about the father who raised the man he was,” Harris said of Beau in his endorsement speech. “I know Joe. And that’s why I’m supporting him.”