PA Gov. Shapiro Calls Out Kamala Harris Memoir: “Blatant Lies” and “Book-Selling Spin”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is publicly pushing back against Vice President Kamala Harris after she released a memoir portraying him as overbearing and overly ambitious during her 2024 vice-presidential search — a depiction Shapiro flatly rejects as “blatant lies.”'
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The clash erupted this week following reporting from The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, whose new profile quotes Shapiro reacting sharply to Harris’s claims in her December 2025 book 107 Days. In the memoir, Harris suggests Shapiro pressed her for unusual influence during private vetting conversations, asking about artwork for the vice-presidential residence and appearing eager to be involved in “every decision.”
Shapiro says none of that happened.
“I mean, she’s trying to sell books and cover her ass,” Shapiro told The Atlantic when first informed of the memoir’s account. After a beat, he partially walked back the phrasing — but not the accusation: “I shouldn’t say ‘cover her ass.’ I think that’s not appropriate. She’s trying to sell books. Period.”
Harris’s book frames Shapiro as a top contender for her VP pick who soured his chances by signaling he wanted a larger-than-typical role — a suggestion his team also denies. According to reporting from The Washington Post, Shapiro was visibly frustrated upon hearing Harris’s descriptions, calling them “complete and utter bulls***.”
People familiar with the situation told several outlets that Harris’s version aligns broadly with what some aides recalled from the 2024 vetting process, though none of those accounts have been publicly corroborated. The conversations in question took place privately between the two Democrats, leaving no independent documentation to confirm either narrative.
Still, the dispute has quickly become one of the most public intraparty rifts in years — and one with political implications. Both Harris and Shapiro remain high-profile figures in the Democratic Party, and Shapiro is widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender. Their feud now exposes deeper tensions over ambition, loyalty, and how political memoirs are used to shape historical narratives.
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Neither Harris nor her office has responded directly to Shapiro’s criticism since the quotes surfaced. Shapiro, meanwhile, has doubled down, insisting the memoir misrepresents their interactions and suggesting Harris embellished the story for dramatic effect.
With both sides standing firm, the disagreement appears far from settled. And with the Democratic Party already navigating post-2024 fractures, the Harris-Shapiro standoff now adds another visible crack at the top.