- Harris’ questioning of Brett Kavanaugh was also “cruel,” according to Trump
Kamala Harris’ viral moment during her debate against Mike Pence in 2020 is proof that the current vice president is ‘horrible,’ according to Donald Trump.
The former president lashed out at his 2024 rival for telling his then-vice president to stop talking about her in their only debate.
“Now you have Kamala, who they say has a lot of flaws, but she’s a nasty person,” Trump told Fox News host Mark Levin on his Sunday night show Life, Liberty and Levin.
“The way he treated Mike Pence was horrible,” he continued. “The way he treats people is horrible.”
During the debate in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 7, 2020, the two candidates sat down for the entire debate and at one point Harris rebuked Pence’s interruption with, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.”
Donald Trump said the proof that Kamala Harris is “cruel” and “nasty” is the way she interacted with Mike Pence during their 2020 debate and her questioning of Brett Kavanaugh when he was a Supreme Court nominee in 2018.
The moment has been widely shared and now used by Harris supporters as a sort of rallying cry for women’s empowerment.
Potential interruptions likely won’t be an issue at Trump’s debate with Harris on Sept. 10, as ABC News will keep microphones muted when it’s not a candidate’s turn to speak.
Harris’ team also pushed to sit during the debate with Trump as she did in the debate with Pence, according to the former president’s campaign. But the two will remain standing behind the podiums.
Also during his interview with Levin, the former president attacked Harris for her questioning of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during the confirmation process, when the vice president was still a U.S. senator from California.
“Oh, she was cruel,” Trump said. “Oh, she was the cruelest. She went after them.”
He then added: “The way she treated Judge Kavanaugh during that hearing in the history of Congress, no one has ever been treated that way.”
During the vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 7, 2020, Harris rebuked Pence’s interruption with, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.”
During her 2018 confirmation hearing, Harris, a former prosecutor and former California attorney general, was serving as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and made headlines for her questioning of Kavanaugh.
Harris’ campaign has parlayed her criticism of Kavanaugh into videos and ads that portray her as a tough prosecutor who will hold officials accountable as president.
Trump’s comments to Levin about that tense moment echo those he made on the campaign trail in the 2020 cycle, when he also called Harris “horrible” and “nasty” for berating his appointee.