Joe Biden Says It Was “Easy” Choosing Kamala Harris As His Running Mate In Their First Joint Interview

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris sat down for their first joint interview since becoming the presidential and vice-presidential nominees.

In the interview that aired Sunday on ABC’s 20/20, the pair discussed how they plan to beat Donald Trump in November, the COVID-19 crisis, and Black Lives Matter.

“Mr. President, watch me. Look at us both. Look at us both, what we say, what we do, what we control, what we know, what kind of shape we’re in,” Biden said, directing his statement to Trump.

Biden said it was “easy” for him to choose Sen. Harris as his running mate after a months-long search.

“I mean, she had the best recommendation she can get: my son Beau, not a joke,” Biden said. “I cannot understand and fully appreciate what it means to walk in her shoes, to be an African American woman, with Indian-American background, a child of immigrants. She can’t assume exactly what it’s like to walk in my shoes. What we do know is we have the same value set.”

Harris spoke on the Black Lives Matter Movement, which was important considering concerns about her past as a prosecutor.

“I give full credit to the brilliance of that movement in terms of what it has done to advance a conversation that needed to happen, a long time ago, but did not capture the ears or the hearts of the American people,” Harris said. “What Black Lives Matter has done as a movement has been to be a counterforce against a very entrenched status quo around the criminal justice system in America.”

Harris also laughed as she said she’s “absolutely looking forward to seeing” Mike Pence on the debate stage. Biden said with a smile he “can hardly wait” to face Trump in a debate.

Biden addressed controversial comments he made in May on “The Breakfast Club,” where he said, “you ain’t Black,” if you didn’t vote for him.

“I shouldn’t have said it,” Biden admitted to ABC. “But, the truth is, there’s a fundamental difference between Donald Trump and me on the issue of race across the board.”

Harris supported him, saying, “He has been outspoken on those issues and continues to talk about disparities, and I know where his heart is. I know where his heart is.”

Regarding the global pandemic, Biden said, “We’re gonna follow the science.”

“Look what happens when – with what’s happened with [Donald Trump’s} events – people die. People get together. They don’t wear masks. They end up getting COVID. They end up dying,” Biden said.

As far as vicious attacks thrown at them from Trump, Harris said, “I think that there is so much about what comes out of Donald Trump’s mouth that is designed to distract the American people from what he is doing every day. That is about neglect, negligence, and harm to the American people.”

Biden jumped in and said, “Incompetence. The idea that he would say something like that. No president – no president – has ever said anything like that. No president’s ever used those words.”