Donald Trump is enlisting the help of former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to help prepare for the debate, after she took down Kamala Harris online five years ago.
Gabbard criticized Harris over her criminal record during a televised debate when they were both unsuccessfully seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination.
The Hawaiian congressman, who has since left the Democrats and taken a more friendly stance toward conservatives, will give the president some tips in preparation for the first presidential debate between Trump and Harris.
Gabbard and Trump have been practicing for their September 10 showdown in Philadelphia, where she will undoubtedly remind him of the way she trashed her during the 2019 debate.
The congresswoman alleged that Harris locked up more than 1,500 petty drug offenders “and then laughed about it when asked on a radio show if she had ever smoked marijuana.”
Donald Trump is pressing former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for some debate preparation after her viral attack on Kamala Harris just five years ago
Gabbard harped on Harris’ criminal record during a televised debate when both were unsuccessfully seeking the 2020 Democratic nomination
Accusing her of keeping innocent people in prison and lengthening sentences to take advantage of their free labor, she was a scathing attack on the former U.S. senator and California attorney general.
“There is no excuse for that. You owe an apology to the people who suffered under your rule as prosecutor,” Gabbard insisted.
Harris, a lawmaker who had worked her way to the top by attacking Joe Biden during the last debate, got a taste of her own medicine in Detroit, where she once again shared the stage with Biden.
Gabbard said she was “very concerned” about Harris’s record as her state’s top prosecutor. “There are too many examples to list.”
“She fought to preserve the cash bail system, which hits poor people in the worst way,” Gabbard shouted to applause.
Furious, Harris said she had done the work to “significantly reform criminal justice” for a state of 40 million people and would implement decriminalization.
“The bottom line, Senator Harris, is that you were in a position to make a difference and impact the lives of these people, and you didn’t. And worse, in the case of the innocent people on death row, you prevented the release of evidence that could have freed them until you were forced to do so,” she charged.
“There is no excuse for that. You owe an apology to the people who suffered under your rule as prosecutor.”
Gabbard and Trump have already held a practice session for their September 10 showdown in Philadelphia, where she will undoubtedly remind him of the way she undermined her in the 2019 debate
Gabbard accused Harris of keeping innocent people in prison and lengthening sentences to take advantage of their free labor, in a scathing attack on the former U.S. senator and attorney general of the Golden State
Harris did not directly dispute that charge in her rebuttal. She focused on her personal opposition to the death penalty and the “very difficult” decisions she made not to seek the death penalty in highly publicized cases.
But after the debate, CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked her to respond.
Instead, she dismissed Gabbard as a hangers-on and defender of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator, whom Gabbard met after the start of his brutal civil war.
Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national spokesperson, declined in a statement to describe it as the usual debate exercise for the ABC News event.
“President Trump has proven to be one of the best debaters in political history, as evidenced by his knockout blow against Joe Biden,” she said.
“He won’t need traditional debate preparation, but will continue to work with respected policy advisers and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2020.”
Someone who tried to hit back was Lis Smith, who ran Pete Buttigieg’s campaign.
She cited a moment when the current Transportation Secretary had the audience mock Gabbard for her comments about national security and her conversations with Al-Assad.
One person who tried to hit back on the other side was Lis Smith, who ran Pete Buttigieg’s rival campaign
In October 2022, Gabbard announced that she was leaving the Democratic Party, saying it was “completely under the control of an elite cabal of warmongers, driven by a cowardly woke mentality.”
That has made her a favorite among conservatives, so much so that some have seen her as an unlikely candidate for Trump’s vice president in 2024.
Gabbard spoke to a CPAC ballroom packed with Trump supporters who cheered her in February when she praised the former president for continuing to challenge the establishment elite in Washington, D.C.
“I’ve met a lot of strong, tough people in my life. I can’t think of one who could not only withstand everything that Donald Trump is throwing at him without breaking down, but who would actually choose to continue to fight against the entire Washington elite,” Gabbard said.