Kamala Harris speaks for first since Biden announced hes ending

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Kamala Harris, Democracy.

Transcript

00:00We are coming on the air as Vice President Kamala Harris is delivering remarks at the

00:16White House.

00:17This is an event that we are taking because these are her first public remarks following

00:21President Biden's announcement that he will not seek re-election in this campaign and

00:25he has endorsed Harris for the Democratic presidential ticket.

00:29Now let's listen to what Harris said just a few moments ago from the South Lawn.

00:34Members of Congress, members of our administration and our extraordinary athletes.

00:39Our President Joe Biden wanted to be here today.

00:42He is feeling much better and recovering fast and he looks forward to getting back on the

00:46road and I wanted to say a few words about our President.

00:50Joe Biden's legacy of accomplishment over the past three years is unmatched in modern

00:56history.

00:57In one term he has already, yes you may clap, in one term he has already surpassed the legacy

01:10of most Presidents who have served two terms in office.

01:14And I first came to know President Biden through his son Beau.

01:18We worked together as Attorneys General in our states and back then Beau would often

01:23tell me stories about his dad.

01:26He would talk about the kind of father and the kind of man that Joe Biden is.

01:32The qualities that Beau revered in his father are the same qualities that I have seen every

01:39day in our President.

01:42His honesty, his integrity, his commitment to his faith and his family, his big heart

01:50and his love, deep love of our country.

01:54And I am first-hand witness that every day our President Joe Biden fights for the American

02:02people and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.

02:14And so with that on behalf of our President, I'm honored to welcome him to the White House.

02:20You can see over the Vice President's shoulder there a Colorado Ski Team t-shirt.

02:24This is an NCAA student athlete event, an event for champions.

02:28We would not normally take this event but these are not normal times.

02:32Her first remarks since being endorsed by Joe Biden as the next President, if the country

02:38will have her, what did you make of the Vice President's initial remarks?

02:43It's a real passing of the torch moment here on the White House South Lawn, Tony, that's

02:48for sure.

02:49This is an event that the President himself was supposed to be headlining.

02:53It is being led instead by the Vice President, not because she is now the presumptive nominee

02:57but because the President has COVID and is in isolation in Delaware as he recovered.

03:04So she agreed a few days ago to take over here and obviously the elephant in the room

03:09is that yesterday the President announced that he would step aside, that he would not

03:13seek his party's nomination.

03:15He endorsed her and so it was impossible for her to allow this moment pass, which as you

03:21point out, doesn't have much to do with politics.

03:24It's about NCAA athletes, male and female, who were victorious over the past year.

03:29But she, without campaigning, made some very generous remarks about the President.

03:35Now as far as campaigning goes, we did just learn that she is headed to Wilmington, Delaware

03:40to campaign headquarters this afternoon.

03:43No longer Biden-Harris campaign headquarters, but Harris campaign headquarters.

03:48She's going to meet with all of her campaign staffers there and urge them to hit the ground

03:54running now with just 105 days to go.

03:57We also just learned, because the developments are coming fast and furious, that Michigan

04:01Governor Gretchen Whitmer has agreed to be one of her campaign co-chairs, Tony.

04:07Nancy Corr is for us on the South Lawn of the White House.

04:09Nancy, thank you very much.

04:10Let's bring in senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe, who is in Delaware,

04:14not far from the President's beach house.

04:17Ed, you know, we just saw that the young people on the South Lawn, maybe the phones lifted

04:22a little higher, maybe the cheers a little louder.

04:25Democrats definitely wanted to excite young voters with this switch on the ticket or attempted

04:30switch on the ticket.

04:31What do we know about this move now of the Vice President heading to Delaware, where

04:35you are?

04:36Yeah, that was a fortuitous backdrop for her at a time when the party's eager to win back

04:41college-age voters.

04:42There she was with some college students herself.

04:44At this hour, Tony, she's got roughly a third of the 1,900 or so delegates that are going

04:50to be required to secure the Democratic nomination.

04:52And that's because a handful of states, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, New Hampshire,

04:57and we anticipate Florida by the end of this morning, are all saying that they plan to

05:02vote for her when the convention is held, whenever a roll call vote is held among the

05:07states.

05:08So she's on her way to getting what she needs.

05:10And in addition to the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, staying with the campaign

05:13as a co-chair.

05:14We heard, for example, from the Illinois governor, J.P. Pritzker, this morning, who had been

05:18a holdout, who was seen as someone who might be interested in running, were there to be

05:22a more competitive race, and someone who's very close to some of the party's biggest

05:26donors.

05:27But he, too, now says he's with her at this point.

05:29So that trip to Wilmington is designed to buck up the troops, probably have a few high-level

05:33meetings with senior staffers about what exactly to anticipate in the coming days, and start

05:38the process of thinking about a running mate.

05:40As for the president, he's expected to get his daily security briefing here at his Rehoboth

05:44Beach home.

05:45We have not seen him since Wednesday, when he arrived here with his COVID-19 diagnosis.

05:50The doctors have said he is improving.

05:53There is a possibility that he might at some point try to venture out if he's feeling healthier.

05:57It is a windier and overcast day here on the beach.

06:00But for now, we wait to hear from the president, who has said he plans to address the nation

06:04later this week.

06:05Tony?

06:06Yeah, we do.

06:07We do have governors coming forward endorsing Kamala Harris.

06:10That reduces the likelihood of some sort of a mini-primary, as some people have been hoping

06:14for, calling for.

06:15But it does not knock them out of the potential running as a VP candidate.

06:19We'll find out if they're interested as well in the days ahead.

06:21Ed, thank you very much.

06:22Appreciate it.

06:24Our coverage will continue on CBS News 24-7, your local news, and tonight on the CBS Evening

06:29News with Norah O'Donnell.

06:30This has been a CBS News special report.

06:32I'm Tony DeCoppo in New York.

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