Vice President Kamala Harris focused on the economy and touched on several other issues in her first one-on-one television interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
Harris sat down with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday for the interview, which aired on the news network hours after he laid out his plan for an “opportunity economy” during a campaign speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The vice president contrasted his economic vision with former President Donald Trump’s plans during the interview, while also addressing issues like immigration and Trump’s recent comments about women.
Here are three key moments from the interview:
Image Andrew Harnik/Getty
Harris on the Economy and Trump’s Tariff Plan
Trump has proposed placing new tariffs of 10 percent to 20 percent on imported goods if he is re-elected. The former president recently said he does not need approval from Congress to implement the plan.
Some economists have warned that Trump’s proposal, which he said would target countries that “rip us off,” could hurt U.S. consumers and businesses.
Harris, who has said Trump’s plan is a new “national sales tax” because the increased import costs caused by the tariffs will be passed on to consumers, contradicted the plan during an MSNBC interview on Wednesday.
“You’re not just throwing out the idea of just tariffs across the board,” Harris said after Ruhle pointed out that President Joe Biden has some limited tariffs and asked if he thought any tariffs were “good” or “bad.” “(Trump) is just not serious about the way he thinks about some of these issues.”
“One must be serious and have a plan,” he added. “And the real plan is not just about a few talking points at the end of the exclamation at a political rally, but actually put your thoughts into what will be the return on investment and the economic impact on people’s everyday lives.”
Harris went on to propose $25,000 in “down payment assistance for first-time home buyers,” a $6,000 child tax credit and a “$50,000 tax cut for first-time small businesses.”
In response to a request for comment, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung emailed the following statement Newsweek Wednesday night: “Every word that comes out of Kamala Harris’s mouth is a lie, except when she spews violent and hateful rhetoric that has led to multiple assassination attempts against (former) President Trump.”
Harris on ‘Broken Immigration System’
“We have a broken immigration system,” Harris said after being asked what he would do to help communities “to capacity” after taking in migrants. “It needs to be fixed.”
Harris then pointed to a bipartisan border security bill that Trump urged Republicans to kill earlier this year, with the vice president saying his opponents don’t want to fix immigration and are using the issue only for political purposes.
“Donald Trump got word of the bill, knew it would solve the problem he wanted to do, and told him to kill the bill,” Harris said. “They killed bills that would have been solutions because they wanted to solve problems rather than solve problems.
“My promise is that, when elected president if the American people will have me, I will bring back the bill and I will sign it into law,” he added. “We need a comprehensive plan that includes what we need to do to strengthen not only the border, but also to create a path for citizenship.”
Women’s Rights and Trump’s ‘Protective’ Comments
Trump told supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday that women would “not think about abortion anymore” if he returned to the White House as he pledged to be, from the Oval Office, a “protector” of women.
Harris made the comments during an interview with Ruhle, denying the role the former president played in the Supreme Court overturn. Roe v. Wade and pointed out that Trump had previously said that “some form of punishment” should be given to women who have abortions.
“Donald Trump is also someone who says that women should be punished for making decisions that they should be able to make about their bodies and their futures,” Harris said.
“They also then appointed three members of the United States Supreme Court who did exactly what they wanted, overturning the protections Roe v. Wadeand now in state after state you see laws being passed that punish women,” she said.
Harris then told Trump the following: “I don’t think American women need him to say he’s going to protect them; American women need him to believe.
Update 09/25/24, 10 pm ET: This article has been updated to include a statement from Cheung.
