Sitting with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris was asked specifically about her reversals on banning fracking and decriminalizing illegal border crossings, positions she took during her last run for president. She confirmed she now does not want to ban fracking, an energy extraction process key to the economy of swing-state Pennsylvania, and said there “should be consequence” for people who cross the border without permission.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” Harris said.
The interview with CNN's Dana Bash came as voters are still trying to learn more about the Democratic ticket in an unusually compressed time frame.
During the early parts of the interview, Walz watched quietly and nodded when Harris made her main points. He was later asked about misstatements, starting with how he has described his 24 years of service in the National Guard.
In a 2018 video clip that the Harris-Walz campaign once circulated, Walz spoke out against gun violence and said, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.”
Critics said the comment “that I carried in war” suggested that Walz portrayed himself as someone who spent time in a combat zone. He said Thursday night that he misspoke after a school shooting, adding, “My grammar’s not always correct.”
Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump and Harris are set to debate on Sept. 10. In a post Thursday evening, it appeared Trump was paying close attention to the interview. After the debate was mentioned, he posted, “I look so forward to Debating Comrade Kamala Harris and exposing her for the fraud she is.”
Trump went on to say that his Democratic opponent “has changed every one of her long held positions, on everything. America will never allow an Election WEAPONIZING MARXIST TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.”
The debate will be the first-ever meeting for Harris and Trump. The opponents had only been in the same space when Harris, as a senator, attended Trump’s joint addresses to Congress.
