Harris will be sitting down for her first major interview since jumping on to the presidential race after US President Joe Biden announced that he won’t be running for re-election
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In a small clip released before the highly anticipated interview of US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee was seen emphasising that her “values have not changed” over the year. Harris will be sitting down for her first major interview since jumping on to the presidential race after US President Joe Biden announced that he won’t be running for re-election.
In the pre-recorded interview conducted by CNN’s Dana Bush, Harris will be seen alongside her Vice Presidential pick for the 2024 race and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. In the promo clip of the interview which will be broadcast on Thursday evening, the US VP insisted that she would govern for all Americans.
The proclamation from Harris came after she was asked whether voters should “feel comfortable and confident that what you’re saying now is going to be your policy moving forward”.
Harris distances herself from past claims
The question from Bash came after Harris’ Republican rival former US President Donald Trump pointed to a comment made by her in 2019 in which she spoke about banning fracking, which she now says she would not do if she becomes president.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris said in her response. “You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed – and I have worked on it – that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time,” she added.
The Vice President emphasised that her values also remained constant when it comes to the border security issue.
“My value around what we need to do to secure our border, that value has not changed. I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organizations, and violations of American laws regarding the illegal passage of guns, drugs and human beings across our border. My values have not changed,” she explained.
The Harris-Walz interview is now being seen as a key test of her credibility as a presidential candidate and will be closely watched by Trump as well. The interview came amid growing criticism over Harris’s reluctance to expose herself to media scrutiny following her ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket last month in place of Joe Biden.
Harris says she would appoint a Republican to the cabinet
One of the key moments from the short promo clip which garnered attention was Harris hinting at appointing a Republican to her cabinet. Harris told Bash that she had spent her career “inviting diversity of opinion”.
“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican,” Harris said. Ahead of the interview, the terms of Harris’ engagement have drawn mockery from her rivals.
“Kamala needs to do a live, unedited, solo press conference,” Abigail Jackson, communications director for Josh Hawley, the rightwing Missouri senator, posted on X. “She wants to be commander-in-chief and she’s too scared to do an interview without Tim Walz by her side? Girl power, amirite,” Jackson furthered.
Meanwhile, Harris’ supporters pointed out that it is customary for presidential candidates to do interviews with their running mates. Interestingly, even Trump did a similar interview with his 2016 running mate and Vice President Mike Pence.