Kamala Harris stopped short of saying “I told you so” as she railed against the recent actions of the Trump Administration at a summit in California, the first time she has spoken out in months.
The former vice president and presidential candidate, who took on Trump in 2024 after Joe Biden dropped out of the race, was speaking at the Leading Women Defined Summit in California on Thursday, and couldn’t resist taking a shot at her political foe.
“There is a sense of fear that is taking hold in this country, and I understand it,” she said in a clip obtained by MSNBC. “We are seeing people stay quiet. We are seeing organizations stay quiet. We are seeing capitulating to clearly unconstitutional threats,” she continued.
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She said that the bullish behavior of the Trump administration creates “a great sense of fear,” before adding: “There were many things we knew were gonna happen.”
Harris then drew laughter from the crowd when she quipped: “I’m not gonna say ‘I told you so,’ I swore I wasn’t going to say that!”
She added that what has changed since her first appearance at the summit in 2016 is that progress is “being rolled back.”
“We are in the midst of seeing progress being rolled back, policies that we birthed, being rolled back, the terms that we used for what is progress in America being turned into a pejorative... intended to deny the facts,” she said. “And to deny smart policy by the way, effective policy by the way, policy that has been proven to yield a great return on that investment.”
The event was organized by the former CEO of Black Entertainment Television Debra Lee. She ended the summit, which aims to empower women of color, with a message of hope.
“There’s great power in this room. And yes, the world is watching,” Harris said to a standing ovation. “But more importantly, there are people counting on us—to be kind, to be fierce, and to be together.”
