Kamala Harris accidentally calls herself ‘the president’ during late Dem Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s eulogy — causing crowd to go wild
Freudian slip?
Vice President Kamala Harris accidentally called herself the “president” Thursday while delivering a eulogy for late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), causing the crowd to go wild as she repeatedly corrected herself.
Harris, standing beside Democratic leaders including Bill and Hillary Clinton, was speaking in Houston about the late congresswoman’s long career in public service. She recalled that Jackson Lee introduced legislation to make Juneteenth – the day marking the end of slavery in the US – a federal holiday.
“Which as a US Senator, I was proud to co-sponsor and then as presi–” Harris said about her role in getting the bill through, before correcting herself.
“As vice president it was my honor – with the president! With the president!” she said as the crowd applauded and cheered.
“It was my honor – it was my honor, with our president Joe Biden to stand beside Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee as our president signed her bill into law.”
The White House has insisted Biden will complete his term.
In her Houston speech, Harris spoke about the friendship she had with Jackson Lee and the impact that she made in the House and in Texas.
Jackson Lee lost her life to pancreatic cancer on July 19 at the age of 74. She had served in the House for almost 30 years, beginning her first term in 1995.
“Sheila Jackson Lee was a woman of deep faith and deep compassion. She was a proud member of our beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated and she was a dear, dear friend to my husband Doug and me,” the vice president said.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish and Jackson Lee did “a number of events together” in the past years, including in the Jewish community, Harris went on.
“You may not know but Sheila and Doug my husband struck up a fast friendship in recent years. And they did a number of events together, including with the Jewish community here in Houston. Because she, of course, was also a coalition builder. And she fought for everybody knowing that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us,” she said.
