Former Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard revealed a key tactic that former President Donald Trump can deploy in debate with Vice President Kamala Harris during an interview Friday with Daily Caller Editorial Director Vince Coglianese.
With his Sept. 10 debate against Harris approaching, Trump enlisted Gabbard to help him prepare after her famous moment against the vice president in her 2020 run.
“There’s all sorts of reporting to this effect that you are helping President Trump to some extent in his preparation. Can you tell us about that? What does that entail and what type of advice do you give him about Kamala Harris and what it’s like to stand on that stage?” WMAL host Coglianese asked Gabbard.
“If I can be helpful as we head into this final week ahead of the debate, [it is] really just sharing the experience that I had with her going toe-to-toe with her on that debate stage,” Gabbard told Coglianese.
“There was no other Democratic candidate in 2020 that challenged Kamala Harris’ hypocrisy and lies. I did that and I can share some of the ways I think she is going to try to get after him, get under his skin, and once again, try to hide the truth about her record from the American people as she tries to create this new version of who is Kamala Harris that is not at all reflective of the truth.”
Gabbard, who recently endorsed Trump, is in part known for her viral moment on the debate stage in 2020 when she attacked Harris for her record as a California prosecutor.
“Senator Harris says she is proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she’ll be a prosecutor president. But I am deeply concerned about this record. There are too many examples to cite but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana,” Gabbard began on the debate stage in 2020.
“She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California and she fought to keep the cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way. And the people who suffered under your reign as prosecutor, you owe them an apology,” Gabbard said to Harris.
ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis will be moderating the Tuesday debate that will be held in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center. The final agreed-upon rules include no live audience and muted mics for when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak. The Harris campaign had been petitioning to ABC News for no muted mics during the debate – a rule the Biden campaign proposed back in the spring alongside a June and September forum, according to Politico.
Trump named Gabbard alongside Robert Kennedy Jr. to his transition team ahead of the 2024 election.
“I understand that RFK [Jr.] has been talking about this too, that you are set to help, should President Trump win this thing, you’re set to help in the transition to help decide who gets the jobs in an incoming Trump administration. Is there an area of focus that you would be interested in handling, that you’ve been asked to handle should that come to pass?” Coglianese asked Gabbard.
“I think where I can be very directly impactful in bringing about the kind of transformational change that President Trump is talking about and promising to the American people is in the area of foreign policy and national security. The key is here, first of all of course, there is an election before us and second, when President Trump is elected to have a team of people around him who are committed to the Constitution and putting our country and the American people first,” Gabbard said.
“You’ve got to have a strong backbone and be committed to those principles to take on the powers that be in Washington; the Washington swamp; the establishment; the military industrial complex; the national security state; all of these powers that are deeply entrenched regardless of what party the president belongs to at any given time. That’s the kind of serious change that needs to take place. It is going to take a team of strong individuals with deep commitment to our country to make that happen.”