PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former President Donald Trump trashed Vice President Kamala Harris in a Thursday press conference — saying she was picked for “politically correct” reasons and “can’t do an interview.”
Trump, 78, said that Harris, 59, was “the most unpopular vice president” and became the Democratic presidential nominee “because of political reasons, or because of being politically correct, even though she never received a vote.”
The ex-president said that Harris was “nasty” to President Biden, 81, when they faced off in the 2020 primaries and was “calling him a racist” — and claimed that Biden, who stepped aside on July 21 and endorsed Harris, is “a very angry man right now.”
“The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden, and I’m no Biden fan, but I tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you look at, they took the presidency away, and people were saying he lost after the debate, he couldn’t win,” Trump said.
“Well, I don’t know that that’s true, necessarily, but whether he could win or he couldn’t win, he had the right to run. And and they took it away. They said they’re going to use the 25th Amendment… And they said, ‘We’ll do it the nice way or we’ll do it the hard way.’”
Trump slammed Harris for not giving any interviews since she assume the Democratic mantle.“She hasn’t done an interview. She can’t do an interview,” Trump said. “But I look forward to the debates.”
Trump said that he was willing to do three debates with Harris — one on Fox News on September 4, another with NBC on September 10 and a third on ABC on September 25.
Trump and Biden’s campaign previously committed to an ABC debate, but Trump had indicated he was backing out, citing his litigation against the outlet.
The ex-president scoffed at a reporter’s question about Harris’ massive rallies this week in Philadelphia, western Wisconsin and Detroit.
In South Carolina, we had 88,000 people. In Alabama, we had 68,000 people,” he claimed. “Nobody says about crowd size with me. But she has 1,000 people or 1,500 people and they say, ‘Oh, the enthusiasm is back.’ No, no, the enthusiasm is with me and the Republican Party.”
Harris on Tuesday night filled up Temple University’s Liacouras Center, which has a roughly 10,000-person capacity, and on Wednesday spoke to similarly large crowds in Eau Claire, Wis., and in Motor City.
Trump also addressed Biden’s prediction in a CBS interview taped Wednesday that there may not be a peaceful transfer of power following the Nov. 5 election.
“Of course there’ll be a peaceful transfer, and there was last time,” Trump said — despite thousands of his supporters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to prevent certification of Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.
Trump said that his own accessibly contrasted notably with Harris’ reclusive approach to press engagement.
“She’s not doing a news conference. You know why? She’s not doing it because she can’t do a news conference,” Trump said.
“She doesn’t know how to do a news conference. She’s not smart enough to do a news conference. And I’m sorry, we need smart people to lead this country because our country has never been in this danger before, both economically and from an outside perspective.”
Trump said he’d bolster US security by dealing more effectively with US foes in countries such as China, North Korea and Russia.
The former chief executive said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping “had a very good relationship” but that the COVID-19 pandemic “broke up our relationship.”
“I think I’m going to get along great with China, President Xi of China and I were very good friends. We met right here,” Trump said.
“But President Xi and I had a very good relationship until COVID. And I held him responsible for COVID. It broke up our relationship. But I think we’re going to have a great relationship, and I think it’s going to be mutually beneficial, but we cannot have it where China is taking advantage of the United States.”
In some of his more animated remarks, Trump claimed that he knows Biden “regrets it” that he picked Harris to be his running mate in 2020.
“She was the first loser in the primary system, during the Democrat primary system. She was the first one to quit. And she quit — she had no votes, no support, and she was a bad debater,” Trump said.
“She never made it to Iowa. Then, for some reason, and I know he regrets it — you do too — he picked her and she turned on him too,” Trump claimed.
“She was working with the people that wanted him out. But the fact that you can be get no votes, lose in the primary system — in other words, you had 14 or 15 people choose the first one out — and that you can then be picked to run for president, it seems to me actually unconstitutional. Perhaps it’s not.”
Trump also addressed abortion rights — one of the biggest Republican liabilities, according to polling — arguing that “I think that abortion has become much less of an issue” and that “I think it’s actually going to be a very small issue.”
“Now the states are voting, and frankly, some of the votes are much more, if you could say liberal, than you would think. Ohio turned out to be. They had a big vote, and it turned out to be a much more liberal standing than people would have thought. Kansas, the same thing,” Trump said.
“And then you have Texas and you have other places where it may be different, but the issue has been brought back to the states now, and like Ronald Reagan, I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”
