WATCH: Kamala Harris Squirms During Surprise Grilling From Rachel Maddow

An uncomfortable Kamala Harris squirmed under pressure from Rachel Maddow when asked on Monday why she declined to add Pete Buttigieg to her ticket last year.

In her memoir, the former vice president writes that she thought Buttigieg would appear too effeminate for the American people, a sentiment she said the Biden transportation secretary agreed with.

Buttigieg “would have been an ideal partner — if I were a straight white man,” Harris writes in “107 Days.”

“But we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man,” she continues. “Part of me wanted to say, Screw it, let’s just do it. But knowing what was at stake, it was too big of a risk.”

“And I think Pete also knew that — to our mutual sadness.”

For his part, Buttigieg told reporters he was “surprised” to read Harris’s recollection of their conversation.

Maddow, who is gay, gently prodded Harris with a word salad searching for answers.

“I guess I’d ask you to just elaborate on that a little bit… it’s hard to hear with you, the first woman elected vice president… to say that he couldn’t be on the ticket effectively because he was gay, is hard to hear,” she tried before Harris interjected.

“No, no, no, that’s not what I said, that he couldn’t be on the ticket because he is gay,” replied Harris, wagging her finger at the MSNBC host.

WATCH:

The Democrat instead suggested that timing played a role in her decision, as well as the belief that President Donald Trump would capitalize on news of a Harris-Buttigieg ticket.

“My point is, as I write in the book, is that I was clear that in 107 days, in one of the most hotly contested elections for president against someone like Trump, who knows no floor… To be a black woman running for president, and as a vice presidential running mate, a gay man. With the stakes being so high, it made me very sad. But I also realized it would be a real risk,” she said.

Harris then lauded her pro-LGBT credentials. “You know, I’ve been an advocate and an ally of the LGBT community my entire life,” she said as Maddow nodded.

“So it wasn’t about any prejudice on my part, but we had such a short we had such a short period of time. And the stakes were so high.”

Calling Buttigieg a “phenomenal public servant,” Harris admitted she may have been too risk-averse to make the right call, the Daily Mail reported.

“But when I had to make that decision with two weeks to go — and maybe I was being too cautious…we should all talk about that. Maybe I was, but that’s the decision I made,” she said, adding later that she felt “a great deal of sadness about also, the fact that it was a risk.”