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Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Penn., stood by his claim in an interview with MS NOW that former Vice President Kamala Harris is trying "to cover her a—" regarding critical comments she made about him in her book.
During an interview on Monday, Shapiro was confronted about his interview with The Atlantic in which he slammed Harris for publishing an unflattering anecdote about him in her new book "107 Days." Shapiro said he stands by his words.
"Look, I stand by what I said," he told host Symone Sanders-Townsend. "I think the way in which the author described my emotion, frankly, was not accurate, but the words are mine, and I stand by them."
Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Penn., told MS NOW that he stood by his recent comments slamming former Vice President Kamala Harris' excerpts about him in her new book. (UCG/Getty; Brandon Bell)
In The Atlantic interview, Shapiro was asked to comment on an excerpt from Harris’ book in which she described some of the tension between them while she was vetting him to be her running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
Harris alleged in her book that Shapiro had asked her staff lots of questions, including "how he might arrange to get Pennsylvania artists’ work on loan from the Smithsonian." She also accused him of wanting to be involved in every decision and said she reminded him, "a vice president is not a co-president."
When asked about it by The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, Shapiro said, ""She wrote that in her book? That’s complete and utter bull----. I can tell you that her accounts are just blatant lies."
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Then-Vice President Kamala Harris and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (L) speak to the press while making a stop at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. (Ryan Collerd/AFP via Getty Images)
Elsewhere, Shapiro told the outlet that Harris was "trying to sell books and cover her a--." He amended his response, adding, "I shouldn’t say ‘cover her a--.’ I think that’s not appropriate."
"She’s trying to sell books. Period."
The governor repeated to MS NOW that what Harris’ book was getting at was untrue.
"I think what was relayed to me by that author that the vice president had written about me just simply wasn't true. And you know, I think the vice president and I had very and continue to have very candid conversations. And I think the way in which it was articulated to me what was said was certainly not accurate," he said.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he stood by his statement that Harris' claim about him in her new book is "bulls---." (Marc Levy/AP Photo)
Sanders-Townsend followed up, asking Shapiro if he was correcting the record for the sake of an upcoming presidential run. The governor denied that notion.
"No, Simone, I was asked for my reaction to a statement that he said the vice president said that simply wasn't true, and I was pointing that out," he said.
"Look, here's the thing: I've got respect for the former vice president and I think we do everyone a disservice when we focus on looking backwards instead of looking forwards in terms of what we're dealing with every day with the Trump administration making people's lives more difficult," he added.
Shapiro is widely seen as a possible 2028 Democratic presidential candidate given his status as the governor of a major swing state.
Fox News Digital reached out to Harris' team for comment.
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Fox News Digital's Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
