EXCLUSIVE: “There were many things that we knew would happen, many things – I’m not going to say I told you so,” declared Kamala Harris this week in her strongest swipe at Donald Trump since leaving office. “I swore I wasn’t going to say that,” the former Vice President added to applause and cries of “say it!” on Thursday at a conference in Orange County.
“About damn time, I would say,” one very political Tinseltown heavyweight said after 2024 candidate Harris’ surprise April 3 appearance at the Leading Women Defined Summit. “Harris, Obama, they’ve all been sitting this out too long.”
In that context, a producer who has written may a check for many Democrats local and national over the years wasn’t won over by Harris’ latest public stance. “Too little, too late,” he wearily said. “No one wants to hear from her, just go away.” Going away might not be on potential 2026 or even 2028 candidate Harris’ agenda as she told the LWD crowd “I’ll see you out there, I’m not going anywhere.”
“More of that!” a reliable Hollywood donor exclaimed of the more punchy and perhaps personal than usual speech the risk adverse ex-Veep delivered. Like many well-heeled LA Democrats, the donor had been feeling disillusioned with the party and its candidate after giving so much last year only to see Trump sweep all the swing states. Now Trump’s grievance fueled authoritarian and Project 2025 measures hit Americans hard and relentlessly the past 70-odd days, the tide may be turning.
“A lot more of that, more Corey Booker, more Harris, more Bernie, more everyone,” the donor went on to say, namechecking the New Jersey Senator who took to the upper chamber’s floor for a record breaking over 24 hours earlier this week. “Finally, someone’s fighting back!”
“There is a sense of fear that has been taking hold in our country,” Haris told the crowd of around 100 on Thursday, including just announced Georgia gubernatorial candidate and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
As she has in her rare past appearances the past two months at the likes of the NAACP Image Awards in February, Harris never said Trump’s name, but she didn’t need to. Correspondingly, as you can see in the video of her full remarks below, Harris never said the names of ring kissers like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Disney, Columbia University, and laws firms Paul Weiss and Wilkie, Farr and Gallagher – again she didn’t need to.
“And I understand it, but we’re seeing people stay quiet. We are seeing organizations stay quiet. We are seeing those who are capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats. And these are the things that we are witnessing each day in these last few months in our country, and it understandably creates a great sense of fear.”
“I’ll say this fear has a way of being contagious,” the Democrat who lost to Trump in November stated. “But I say this also: courage is also contagious,” Harris said, telling the applauding audience.
The White House did not respond to a request Friday for comment from Deadline on the former VP’s remarks
The ex-VP said nothing about widely discussed speculation that she is going to throw her hat in the ring to replace termed limited (and ambitious in his own right) Gavin Newsom as the Golden State’s Governor. In what is becoming an increasingly full field of ex-LA Mayors, ex-Biden cabinet members, current Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis and more who will be visiting the Hollywood ATM, Harris is anticipated to make her decision to run or not run known by August, I hear.
One insider views Harris’ remarks of Thursday and comments critiquing Trump’s tariffs and bullying of law firms by former president Barack Obama as a strategic shift towards a larger response.
“This is why you see Harris and Obama speaking now, thoughtfully and deliberately with concern after analyzing the current situation,” James Costos tells Deadline. “While it may sometimes seem like Democrats are not acting quickly enough or overthinking things, it’s where the best outcomes always arise,” the ex-HBO exec and Obama era Ambassador ro Spain stated. “We prioritize avoiding chaos and preventing decisions that ultimately cause more harm than good for America, not just the few in power and those who are pulling strings around the fringe.”
In terms of capitulation and string pulling, Kamala Harris may have been speaking on something that has come close to home for the former VP in recent days.
Trump scored a win over prestigious law firm Paul Weiss after promising to yank away their security clearances and federal contracts in a targeted executive order. Bending profoundly, the widely lamented Brad Karp-run firm promised to contribute $40 million in pro-bono services to support the administration’s MAGA goals. As other firms were put in the crosshairs, some kissed the ring in record time, while a few others took Trump to court.
Doug Emhoff
Getty
One firm in particular threw one of its most high profile and recent partners under the Trump train.
Joining Willkie Farr & Gallagher as a partner, Doug Emhoff resurrected his legal career upon the Second Gentleman’s return to civilian life with the VP on January 20th.
The honeymoon didn’t last long.
Under threat, unconstitutional or not, by Trump personally, Willkie Farr & Gallagher wasted little time making a $100 million deal that POTUS bragged about on April Fool’s Day. “Willkie affirms its commitment to Merit-Based Hiring, Promotion, and Retention,” Trump said on his Truth Social feed on April 1. “Accordingly, the Firm will not engage in illegal DEI discrimination and preferences.”
As the New York Times reported and Deadline has confirmed, Emhoff was far from onboard with the deal and wanted the firm to fight back against the threat, which was clearly aimed at him.
With an eye on if Harris is running for governor next year and something else in 2028, the former Second Gentleman told Georgetown Law students on Tuesday before Trump revealed the Willkie agreement that “the rule of law is under attack.” He added: “Democracy is under attack. And so, all of us lawyers need to do what we can to push back on that. Us lawyers have always been on the frontlines, fighting for civil rights, for justice….I love being a lawyer, this is what we do: we fight for people. We fight for what’s right.”
Sounds like a stump speech in the making.
