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.
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.”
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.
But the most tense exchanges between Ms 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.
“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.
Ms 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.
The vice-president pointed to the Biden administration’s work on the Inflation Reduction Act, which funnelled hundreds of billions of dollars to renewable energy and electric vehicle tax credit and rebate programs.
“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.”
Ms Harris did not explain her reversal on banning fracking – a technique for recovering gas and oil from shale rock used by an industry that is particularly strong in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Ms Harris had said that “there is no question I’m in favour of banning fracking” during a CNN town hall in 2019. But she has backpedalled on that view since becoming vice-president – even casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate on new fracking leases.
In the CNN interview on Thursday, she said: “As president, I will not ban fracking.”
Brian Fallon, a campaign spokesperson, said on social media that the Biden administration’s “clean energy investments have proven the ability to make progress on climate without those past stances”.
BBC
