Biden says he waited until right 'opportunity' to apologize for remarks on working with segregationist senators

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RAW VIDEO: Joe Biden answers questions in Charleston, SC

Presidential candidate Joe Biden answers reporters' questions after a day of campaigning in Charleston, South Carolina.

Former Vice President Joe Biden admitted Sunday why he waited weeks to apologize for comments about working with segregationist lawmakers in his early days in the U.S. Senate.

He said his apology Saturday, delivered to a mostly black audience of several hundred in Sumter, S.C., was “the first opportunity we had to do it in a fulsome way.”

He reiterated his apology about “any comments I made (that) were taken in a way that people took offense from them. Then, I am truly sorry for that. That was not my intention.”

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Saturday he said that he understood his remarks could have been offensive to some people.

“Was I wrong a few weeks ago?” Biden asked the Sumter audience during the first day of a weekend visit to South Carolina. “Yes, I was. I regret it, and I’m sorry for any of the pain of misconception that caused anybody.”

Biden on Sunday was continuing his campaign tour of South Carolina, the first Southern state to vote in next year’s primary and a crucial proving ground for candidates seeking the support of black Democrats.

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"Have I made mistakes? Yes. Do we grow? Yes. But, the fact of the matter is, that's why I chose here in South Carolina, and chose an audience that in fact... would be the most likely to have been offended by anything that was said,” he said Sunday.

Biden added that he was ready to move on: “This is about the future. It's not about the past.”

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Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said Sunday she was happy that Biden apologized for his remarks about working in the past with segregationist lawmakers.

Harris and Biden have been at odds with one another since the California lawmaker went after the former vice president on the debate stage in Miami almost two weeks ago for his comments on segregationist senators.

Fox News' Allie Raffa in Charleston contributed to this report.