Kamala Harris tells CNN she'd put a Republican in cabinet
'Important' to have people with 'different views, different experiences' at the table, Harris says
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris says she'd find a place in her cabinet for a Republican if elected president, though she told CNN in a sit-down interview that she didn't have a specific individual in mind.
"Yes, I would," Harris said Thursday, when asked by CNN's Dana Bash if she would appoint a Republican to a cabinet position.
"I think it's important to have people at the table — when some of the most important decisions are being made — that have different views, different experiences," said Harris, who was being interviewed alongside her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
"And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican."
The interview was the first of its kind that Harris had undertaken since moving to the top of the Democratic ticket after U.S. President Joe Biden ended his re-election effort.
The interview gave Harris a chance to quell criticism that she has eschewed uncontrolled environments, while also giving her a fresh platform to define her campaign and test her political mettle ahead of an upcoming debate with the Republican candidate, former U.S. president Donald Trump, that is set for Sept. 10.
But it also carried risk as her team tries to build on momentum from the ticket shakeup and last week's Democratic National Convention.
The full CNN interview was taped at 1:45 p.m. Thursday at Kim's Cafe, a local Black-owned restaurant in Savannah, Ga., and aired in the evening.
'My values have not changed'
Harris was asked about changes in her policies over the years, specifically her reversals on fracking and decriminalizing illegal border crossings.
"I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed," Harris replied.
Harris also brushed off Trump's questioning of her racial identity after the former U.S. president said she "happened to turn Black." Harris, who is of Black and South Asian heritage, said it was the "same old, tired playbook."
The Democratic nominee was also asked about the war in Gaza, and whether she foresees changes in U.S. policy regarding Israel should she be elected president.
"Let me be very clear: I am unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel's defence and its ability to defend itself and that's not going to change," said Harris.
She said a deal must be reached to end the nearly 11-month-long conflict between Israel and Hamas.
"Israel has a right to defend itself … and how it does so matters," she said. "Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, and we have got to get a deal done."
Joint interviews a common campaign event
Joint interviews during an election year are a fixture in politics; Biden and Harris, Trump and Mike Pence, Barack Obama and Biden — have all taken part in them at a similar point in the race. The difference is, those other candidates had all done solo interviews, too.
Harris hasn't yet done an in-depth interview since she became her party's standard bearer five weeks ago, though she did sit for several while she was still Biden's running mate.
Harris and Walz are still introducing themselves to voters, unlike Trump and Biden, about whom most people were aware and had formed opinions.
The subject of how Harris learned about Biden's decision to end his re-election bid also came up during Thursday's interview.
It was a phone call that came in on a Sunday, and Harris said she asked him: "Are you sure?"
Biden said he was, and Harris said the president was also "very clear that he was going to support me."
Visit to Georgia
Harris and Walz were in the midst of a two-day bus tour through southeast Georgia that culminated with an evening rally. Harris campaign officials believe that in order to win the state over Trump in November, she must make inroads in Republican strongholds across the state.
Democrats' enthusiasm about their vote in November has surged, according to polling from Gallup. About eight in 10 Democrats now say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting, compared with 55 per cent in March. This gives them an enthusiasm edge they didn't have earlier this year.
Republicans' enthusiasm has increased by much less over the same period, with about two-thirds of Republicans now saying they're more enthusiastic than usual about voting.
But at a packed arena on Thursday, Harris cast her nascent campaign as the underdog and encouraged the crowd to work hard to elect her in November.
"We're here to speak truth and one of the things that we know is that this is going to be a tight race to the end," she said.
Republicans attack Harris's lack of interviews
During her time as vice-president, Harris has done on-camera and print interviews with news outlets at a much more frequent pace than the president — except for Biden's late-stage media blitz following his disastrous debate performance that touched off the end of his campaign.
Harris's lack of media access over the past month has become a key attack line for Republicans. The Trump campaign has kept a tally of the days Harris has been the candidate without giving an interview and have suggested Walz was appearing with her because she needs a "babysitter."
"I just saw Comrade Kamala Harris' answer to a very weakly-phrased question, a question that was put in more as a matter of defence than curiosity, but her answer rambled incoherently, and declared her 'values haven't changed,'" Trump posted online.
Trump has largely steered toward conservative media outlets when granting interviews, though he has held more open news conferences in recent weeks as he sought to reclaim the spotlight that Harris had claimed.
With files from CBC News