President Donald Trump used his daughter Ivanka in a charm offensive aimed at Kamala Harris, the former vice president reveals in her forthcoming memoir.
In 107 Days, set to come out next week, Harris details how Trump attacked her publicly but lavished her with praise in private phone calls during her short-lived campaign for the presidency, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Harris asked her staff to put her on a call with Trump after authorities arrested a gunman who tried unsuccessfully to assassinate him while he was golfing in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September last year.
At the time, Trump blamed Harris and President Joe Biden’s rhetoric for the attack: “They use highly inflammatory language. I can use it too—far better than they can—but I don’t.”
During their phone call, however, Harris recalled that Trump struck a softer tone.
“You’ve done a great job, you really have,” Trump told her. “My only problem is it makes it very hard for me to be angry at you. It’s like, what am I going to do? How do I say bad things about you now?”
Harris responded: “Well, then don’t.”
“I’m going to tone it down,” Trump replied. “I will. You’re going to see.”
Trump proceeded to tell Harris that his daughter, Ivanka, was a “big fan.” He also asked Harris to say “hello” to her husband, Doug Emhoff, on his behalf.
But Harris was determined not to fall for her opponent’s niceties.
“He’s a con man. He’s really good at it,” she wrote. “I’d readied myself for a phone conversation with Mr. Hyde, but Dr. Jekyll had picked up the call.”
In a second phone call where she conceded the heated 2024 race to Trump, Harris said she urged her rival to bring the country together even though she believed at the moment that it was a lost cause.
“I am going to be so nice and respectful,” Trump told her. “You are a tough, smart customer, and I say that with great respect. And you also have a beautiful name. I got use of that name, it’s Kamala.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
The two have continued to trade barbs publicly since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Most recently, Harris joined former President Barack Obama in calling out Trump’s “abuse of power” after the Federal Communications Commission threatened action against ABC over comments made by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel about the death of Charlie Kirk. The network announced Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be pulled indefinitely.
What we are witnessing is an outright abuse of power.This administration is attacking critics and using fear as a weapon to silence anyone who would speak out. Media corporations — from television networks to newspapers — are capitulating to these threats.We cannot dare to be…
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 18, 2025
“This administration is attacking critics and using fear as a weapon to silence anyone who would speak out. Media corporations — from television networks to newspapers — are capitulating to these threats,” she wrote on X. “We cannot dare to be silent or complacent in the face of this frontal assault on free speech.”
In August, Trump stripped Harris of Secret Service protection.
Harris’s memoir is expected to drop several other bombshells. She has blasted Biden’s decision to run again as “recklessness,” and disclosed that she initially wanted former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to be her running mate, but feared that voters would not be ready to accept a Black woman and a gay man to lead them.
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