US Vice-President Kamala Harris defended her shifts on policy, President Joe Biden, and her time in the White House in her first interview since becoming the Democratic nominee.
Ms Harris argued that the Biden administration was able to reduce illegal border crossings in recent months and “recover the economy” after the pandemic.
Ms Harris appeared in the pre-recorded CNN interview with her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. It was her first as a presidential candidate.
She called the White House’s policies a “success”, specifically pointing to a decline in prescription drug costs and the unemployment rate: “That’s good work. There’s more to do.”
Kamala defended the White House’s economic track record, as inflation and high cost-of-living prices continue to bite up the pockets of Americans..
But the most tense exchanges between Harris and CNN interviewer Dana Bash centred on the assertion that the Democratic nominee’s policy positions had undergone “changes” during her time as vice president and as a presidential candidate. In a 2019 interview Harris said she would ban fracking but after becoming a nominee for president she said she would not ban fracking.
Fracking is a technique for recovering gas and oil from shale rock used by an industry that is particularly strong in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
In a CNN interview on Thursday, she said: “As president, I will not ban fracking.”
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” she said when asked why her positions shifted in recent years.
Trump had already dismissed the vice president’s first interview, which lasted 27 minutes, before its release because it was pre-taped and included Mr Walz.
He used a single word in his review after it concluded.”BORING!!!” the former president wrote on Truth Social.
Harris referred to her effort to address climate change and support of the Green New Deal, a Democratic proposal to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, as something that remains a steadfast value when pressured about her shifting policy positions.
“I have always believed, and I’ve worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter,” she said.
“We have set goals for the United States of America, and by extension the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.”
But on the subject of “securing our border” Ms Harris said “My values have not changed” and referenced her time “prosecuting transnational, criminal organisations” as California attorney general.
CNN – KAMALA HARRIS INTERVIEW BY DANA BASH [FULL LENGTH] pic.twitter.com/VUbp34OLjR
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