'It was a slow start but a strong finish': Kamala Harris speaks out on Democrat 'panic' over Biden's debate performance

After a disastrous debate performance from her boss Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris sat with CNN's Anderson Cooper to address where the complete failure leaves the Democratic Party only two months ahead of their nomination convention in Chicago. 

"CNN's John King has described a panic inside the Democratic Party right now because of President Biden's performance in tonight's debate. He's been hearing from Democratic lawmakers and others around the country. Some within your own party are wondering if President Biden should even step aside. What do you say to that?” 

Harris replied, saying that there was a “clear contrast” between Trump and Biden on issues and then added, “Yes, there was a slow start, but it was a strong finish. And what became very clear through the course of the night is that Joe Biden is fighting on behalf of the American people on substance, on policy, on performance.” 

When Harris was pressed on the topic of the potential removal of Biden, she was very resistant to conceding to different points that would give support to the idea that Biden's debate performance was lacking.

The CNN host asked about Harris' thoughts on some in the Democratic Party suggesting that Biden should step down after the debate. Harris responded, "What we saw tonight is the President making a very clear contrast with Donald Trump with all the issues that matter to the American people. Yes, there was a slow start, but it was a strong finish." Harris added that Biden is "extraordinarily strong" as a president. 

"The President's performance tonight clearly was disappointing for his supporters. CNN reports that Democratic lawmakers watching the debate were worried about the President's performance. One said it was a disaster. Another called it a trainwreck. Those are Democrats," Cooper said.

Harris then then focused on Trump's positions on abortion, which Trump has said needs to be left up to the states. She then touted Biden's accomplishments in office.   

Cooper pressed her further when Harris deflected, saying, "All that may be true, but the president of the United States was not able to make that case to Donald Trump on the stage tonight." Cooper then added that Biden was a "very different person" on the debate stage versus how he was in 2020. Harris deflected once again saying that the American people should focus on Biden's performance outside of the debate. She then said that the 90-minute debate was not the most important thing, saying "I'm talking about three and a half years of performance in work that has been historic."  

Cooper cut her off and asked, "But the man we saw on the stage tonight, is that the person you see in meetings everyday?"  

"The person that you saw on the debate stage," Harris said, "that has for the last three and a half years up until today, performed in a way that has been about whether it be in the Oval Office, negotiating bipartisan deals, so that we have an infrastructure, a real infrastructure plan where we're putting trillions of dollars on the streets of America to upgrade our infrastructure.

"Whether it be the person I see in the Oval Office," she continued, "who is meeting with heads of the military and the intelligence community and in the Situation Room, ensuring the safety of America, the person I see on the world stage, convening world leaders who often ask for his advice, most recently, just during the G7 conference, so I'm not going to spend all night with you talking about the last 90 minutes when I've been watching the last three and a half years of performance," Harris added.   

Cooper then asked, "But this was a debate that your campaign wanted to push for this debate at this moment. Obviously, I mean, you can't honestly say—can you say that you're not concerned at all having watched the President's performance tonight?"  

Harris then chalked up the poor performance from Biden to a "slow start" in the debate.  

After Thursday’s debate, a poll from CNN found that over two thirds of Americans said that Trump outperformed Biden on the stage. Donald Trump’s campaign declared victory within minutes of the debate ending.