Kamala Harris was publicly standing beside Joe Biden.

Behind the scenes, according to a former Democratic fundraiser, something very different was happening.

Lindy Li, a former Democratic National Committee fundraiser who once helped raise money for the Biden-Harris operation, claims Harris was already positioning herself with some of the party’s biggest donors just days before Biden abandoned his 2024 reelection campaign.

Li’s verdict on what donors were being told at the time was blunt.

“It was all charade.”

The allegation appears in Li’s new book, Unburdened, and in a new interview with Fox News Digital.

Li says Harris was publicly insisting there was “no daylight” between herself and Biden while privately cultivating relationships she might need if the president stepped aside.

Her claim has not been independently proven, and Harris’s representatives did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

But Li says she personally participated in the donor calls.

“She would host calls with donors and pretend to support Biden,” Li said.

At the same time, Li claims, Harris was “auditioning” for those very donors.

The most striking episode allegedly came on July 19, 2024.

According to Li, Harris held a call with major Democratic donors and told them there was no chance Biden would quit the race.

“She would stick with him until the end,” Li recalled Harris saying.

Biden dropped out two days later.

On July 21, 2024, the president announced that he would no longer seek reelection after weeks of mounting pressure following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump. He endorsed Harris later that same day.

Li says some donors already suspected Biden’s campaign was collapsing.

And they were not impressed by what they were hearing.

“A lot of us have group chats,” she said.

According to Li, the private reaction among wealthy Democratic donors was essentially that the call had been a waste of time.

“What a charade, how fake,” she recalled them saying.

Li argues that donors believed they were being asked to pretend Biden remained viable even as pressure for him to leave the race intensified.

That is where her accusation becomes particularly damaging.

Li is not merely claiming Harris prepared for the possibility of becoming the nominee.

Any vice president in that position would reasonably have considered what might happen if the president withdrew.

Li is alleging that Harris was simultaneously preparing for that possibility while publicly presenting herself as unwaveringly loyal to Biden.

She says that balancing act was deliberate.

According to Li, Harris even imposed what she described as a “fake rule” discouraging staff from openly discussing the possibility that she could replace Biden.

Li interpreted that as part of an effort to avoid appearing disloyal while positioning herself to inherit his political operation.

Then Biden made his decision.

The dynamic changed immediately.

Li says Harris launched what she called an intense “charm offensive” during the first 24 hours after Biden stepped aside.

“She was flattering people left and right,” Li said.

The goal, according to Li, was simple: lock down donors and party support before a serious rival could emerge.

It worked quickly.

Harris consolidated Democratic backing with remarkable speed and ultimately became the party’s nominee without a prolonged convention fight.

Li also claims Biden was not initially eager to endorse Harris.

She suggested there was hesitation before his public endorsement.

The known timeline shows Biden first released his withdrawal statement and then publicly endorsed Harris in a separate message roughly half an hour later.

That sequence has fueled years of debate over how much coordination had taken place behind the scenes.

Li now argues the donor world already understood where events were heading.

Her current criticism is especially notable because she was once a prominent supporter of both Biden and Harris.

Li says she helped raise roughly $20 million across Democratic political efforts.

After Harris lost the 2024 election, however, Li became one of the party’s most outspoken internal critics.

She publicly attacked the Harris campaign’s spending and demanded answers about how enormous sums of donor money had been used.

She later compared questioning the Democratic Party to “leaving a cult.”

By 2025, Li said she was raising money for Trump.

That political evolution is important context.

Li is no longer a neutral Democratic insider.

She has become a vocal critic of the party she once helped finance.

That does not automatically make her recollections false.

But it means her account should be understood for what it is: the testimony of a former insider who has since become deeply hostile toward the organization and politicians she once supported.

Her claims therefore require attribution.

What is independently established is the extraordinary political sequence of July 2024.

Biden insisted for weeks that he was staying in the race.

Pressure from Democratic lawmakers and donors intensified.

Harris publicly remained loyal to him.

Then, on July 21, Biden suddenly announced he was ending his campaign and quickly endorsed his vice president.

Harris moved rapidly afterward.

Within days, she had secured overwhelming support from Democratic officials and donors.

Li now says that speed was not accidental.

According to her, Harris had already been laying the groundwork.

If Li’s account is accurate, the public unity displayed in the final days of Biden’s campaign concealed far more maneuvering than voters realized.

Harris was telling donors Biden was staying.

Biden was preparing to leave.

And, according to Li, some of the wealthiest people in Democratic politics already knew the performance did not add up.

Her description of those final days is only three words.

“All charade.”