Harris defends White House record in first high-stakes interview

US Vice President Kamala Harris defended her policy changes, President Joe Biden and her time in the White House in her first interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.

Ms. Harris argued that the Biden administration has been able to reduce illegal border crossings in recent months and “restore” the economy after the pandemic.

She called the White House’s policies a “success,” specifically pointing to declines in prescription drug costs and the unemployment rate: “That’s good work. There’s more to do.”

Ms. Harris appeared in a pre-recorded CNN interview with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in her first as a presidential candidate.

The vice president has been forced to defend the White House’s economic record as inflation and high living costs continue to hurt Americans’ wallets. Polls have regularly suggested that voters would prefer Republican candidate Donald Trump’s economy.

But the most tense exchanges between Ms. Harris and CNN interviewer Dana Bash centered on the claim that the Democratic candidate’s policy positions had “changed” during her time as vice president and as a presidential candidate.

“I think the most important and significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is that my values ​​have not changed,” she said when asked why her views have changed in recent years.

Trump had already rejected the first interview with the vice president, which lasted 27 minutes, before it was released because it was pre-recorded and featured Mr. Walz.

He used a single word in his review after it ended.

“BORING!!!” the former president wrote on Truth Social.

Ms. Harris pointed to her efforts to address climate change and her support for the Green New Deal, a Democratic proposal to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, as something she remains steadfast on when pressed about her changing policy positions.

“I’ve always believed, and I’ve worked to believe, that the climate crisis is real, that it’s an urgent issue,” she said.

The vice president pointed to the Biden administration’s work on the Inflation Reduction Act, which channeled hundreds of billions of dollars into renewable energy and tax credit and reimbursement programs for electric vehicles.

“We have set targets for the United States of America, and by extension for the entire world, around when we should meet certain standards for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Ms. Harris did not explain her decision to roll back the ban on fracking, a technique for extracting gas and oil from shale rocks used by an industry particularly strong in the state of Pennsylvania, where it centers.

Ms. Harris had said at a CNN town hall in 2019 that “there’s no question I’m in favor of a fracking ban.” But she has backtracked on that stance since becoming vice president — even casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate on new fracking leases.

In Thursday’s CNN interview, she said, “As president, I will not ban fracking.”

Brian Fallon, a campaign spokesman, said on social media that the Biden administration’s “investments in clean energy have proven they can make progress on climate without those past positions.”

Ms. Harris took more progressive positions on immigration as a senator and during her 2020 presidential campaign, previously advocating for the closure of immigration detention centers and the decriminalization of illegal border crossings.

But on the topic of “securing our borders,” Ms. Harris said “my values ​​have not changed,” and pointed to her time as California’s attorney general when she “prosecuted transnational criminal organizations.”

Earlier this year, the vice president backed a tough, bipartisan deal on border security that would have included hundreds of millions of dollars for border wall construction.

Mr Trump pressured Republicans in Congress to block the deal, but Ms Harris has promised to “sign it into law” if elected. She vowed to get it passed again during the CNN interview.

Explaining her moderate views on immigration, the Democratic candidate told CNN that her travels around the country as vice president had made her believe that “it’s important to build consensus, and it’s important to find a common place of understanding about where we can actually solve problems.”

Along those lines, Ms. Harris pledged to include someone “who was a Republican” in her presidential Cabinet, saying it would fulfill her promise to be a president “for all Americans.”

“I’ve spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it’s important to have people at the table when important decisions are being made who have different points of view.”

Ms Harris was also asked about the war in Gaza and reiterated the White House position that both Israel and Hamas “need to make a deal” and that the Palestinians have a right to their own land bordering Israel.

“This war must end and we must make a deal to free the hostages,” she said.

She would not commit to an arms embargo against Israel, as some on the left of her party have demanded.

Mr. Walz, who served in the U.S. National Guard for decades, was asked about a comment he made in which he said he “carried” an assault rifle “in war.”

The campaign has made clear that Mr. Walz has never been to a war zone.

In the interview, the governor said he was “wearing his emotions on his sleeve” and “speaking passionately” about the topic of gun violence in schools when he made the incorrect statement.

That “passion” also extended to his false claim that his wife had undergone in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments — which have become a political flashpoint in the American debate over abortion access — to conceive their children.

She underwent intrauterine insemination and not IVF, although doctors say the two fertilization treatments are often used interchangeably.

Mr. Walz said his record speaks for itself. He said he did not believe Americans were “cutting hairs” between the two.

The Minnesota governor was also asked about his son Gus, who went viral when he proudly proclaimed “That’s my dad” during the Democratic National Convention.

“It was such an intense, emotional moment that I’m grateful I got to experience it – and I’m so proud of him.”

Ms. Harris described the moment President Biden called her to tell her he had decided to end his re-election campaign in July.

She said her family was visiting when she got the call. They had just finished eating pancakes and bacon and were working on a puzzle.

“My first thought wasn’t about me, to be honest, my first thought was about him,” Ms Harris said when asked if she had asked for his support.

The vice president also said the president could have served again.

“He’s so smart, and I’ve spent hours and hours with him in the Oval Office and in the situation room. He has the intelligence, the dedication, the judgment and the spirit that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president.”

She said that Trump, on the other hand, had none of these qualities.

Ms. Harris has been criticized by Republicans and some pundits for refusing to hold a news conference or an on-the-record, in-depth interview. Her critics said she wanted to avoid having her record called into question.

Her appearance on CNN is her first substantive interview since Biden withdrew from the race.

Ms. Bash, the CNN journalist who conducted the interview with Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz, was one of the moderators of the June 27 debate between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump.

Biden’s disastrous performance in that debate was seen by many as the impetus for the president to withdraw from the race.