Kamala Harris: I have changed my views, but not my principles

2024-08-30 19:42:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

In her first major interview of the presidential campaign on Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris defended her new positions, abandoning liberal views on several issues.

But she insisted her "principles have not changed".

Ms. Harris was interviewed by the CNN television network along with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who is running alongside her for the post of vice president.

The vice president was specifically asked about changing her stances on banning oil drilling and decriminalizing border crossings, positions she supported when she first ran for president in 2020. .

She said she has no plans to stop drilling, a key issue for Pennsylvania's economy, adding that "there should be consequences for those who cross the border illegally."

"I think the most important and significant aspect of my policy outlook and decisions is that my principles have not changed," Ms Harris said.

During her interview Ms. Harris said that she believes that on these issues "it is important to reach consensus and understanding on how the problems can be solved". The interview with CNN's Dana Bash comes at a time when voters are still trying to learn more about the Democratic nominee in an extremely tight timeframe.

President Joe Biden ended his re-election race just five weeks ago.

Although she has given several interviews while President Biden was still in the race, Ms. Harris had not given an in-depth interview since taking over the Democratic baton for the White House race.

She said that working with President Biden was "one of the greatest honors of her career" and recounted the moment when he called her to tell her he was withdrawing from the race and that he would support her as a presidential candidate.

"He told me what he had decided to do and I asked him, 'Are you sure?' he said, 'Yes.' That's how I found out."

Mrs. Harris said that she had not asked President Biden to support her for the presidential race because, as she said, "he was very clear that he would support me."

During the interview, Vice President Harris defended the Biden administration's work on the southern border and immigration. She noted that she had a duty to try to address the "root causes of the problem" in other countries, which are also the source of immigration.

"We have laws that must be implemented, which determine the measures for those who cross our border illegally. There should be consequences for this," Ms. Harris said. Asked about Israel's war in Gaza, following the October 7 Hamas attack, Ms Harris said she was "unequivocally unwavering in her commitment to defend Israel and its capacity to defend itself".

But the vice president also reiterated what she has been saying for months, that the Israeli offensive has caused a high number of deaths among the civilian population.

Ms Harris was also asked about former President Donald Trump's comments about her racial identity. Mr Trump has falsely suggested Ms Harris changed the way she presents herself for political reasons, saying she suddenly started saying she was black.

Ms Harris, of black and South Asian parentage, dismissed Mr Trump's comments as "the same old shit".

She did not comment on this issue for long, asking journalist Bash to move on to the next question.

Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris will face off in a debate on September 10. In a post on Thursday evening, Mr Trump appeared to be paying attention to the interview.

After the issue of the debate was mentioned, he wrote on social media:

"I can't wait to argue with my friend Kamala Harris and expose her as a fraud."

Mr. Trump wrote further that his Democratic opponent "has changed every one of her long-held positions, on everything. America will never allow a Marxist to use the elections for his own political purposes and become the president of the country."

The debate will be the first meeting that Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump have ever held with each other.

The two political opponents seem to have been in the same environment only when Mr. Trump gave speeches before Congress and Ms. Harris was present there, in the capacity of a senator. In the second part of the interview, the CNN reporter also focused on Mr. Walz. He was asked about the inaccurate information he gave about his past, starting with how he described the 24 years of service he performed in the National Guard.

In a 2018 video clip, Mr. Walz spoke out against gun violence, saying, "We can make sure that these assault weapons that I've carried in war are the only time they're used." he at that time.

Critics say Mr. Walz's comments suggested he had been at war, which they say is not true.

Clarifying his statements, Mr Walz said he had misspoken after a school shooting, adding: "My grammar is not always correct".

Asked about statements that appeared to suggest his wife had become pregnant through in-vitro artificial insemination when in fact they had used another treatment, he said he believed most Americans understood what he meant.

He then spoke about Republican opposition to abortion rights.

Meanwhile, a survey by the Gallup company shows that the enthusiasm of the Democrats regarding the elections in November has increased during the last months.

About 8 in 10 Democrats, or 80%, now say they are more enthusiastic than usual about the election, compared to 55% in March.

Republican enthusiasm has grown much less over the same period. Currently, about two-thirds of Republicans say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting. At a packed rally Thursday in Savannah, Georgia, Ms. Harris encouraged Democrats to work hard to elect her in November.

"We're here to tell the truth and one of the things we know is that it's going to be a close race all the way down," she said.

Ms. Harris spoke about a number of concerns that Democrats have. She said Mr. Trump would further limit women's rights, recalling that when he was in the White House he had appointed three members of the Supreme Court, who helped overturn the landmark decision guaranteeing protection for abortion, Roe v. Wade .

She said Mr. Trump would repeal the Affordable Health Care Act while raising questions about what the former president might do if he were re-elected given the immunity granted to presidents thanks to a Supreme Court ruling.

"Imagine Donald Trump without any restrictions," she said.

The rally in Georgia was the end of a two-day bus tour of the southern part of the state. Ms. Harris will campaign next week on Labor Day in Detroit and Pittsburgh alongside President Biden as the election process fast approaches.

The first ballots by mail will be sent to voters in two weeks./ Voa