Harris cites Trump more than two dozen times while pressed for policy issues in CNN town hall

Vice President Kamala Harris mentioned former President Trump by name more than two dozen times during her CNN town hall on Wednesday, including when pressed about specific policies she would institute if elected to the White House. 

Fox News found that during the CNN town hall in Chester, Pennsylvania, Harris mentioned Trump by name 26 times, while Trump was mentioned overall by moderator Anderson Cooper or audience members a total of 43 times. The CNN town hall kicked off at 9 p.m. on Wednesday and wrapped up around 10:15 p.m.

Harris was pressed on issues such as her border policies the last three and a half years as vice president, and how she would tackle immigration differently if she was elected president. At one point, Cooper pressed Harris on her support of a bipartisan bill that would provide funding for a border wall that she previously lambasted as a “stupid” idea when promoted by Trump during his administration. 

“Let’s talk about this compromise bill that you want to pass if you are elected. You said that’s going to be a priority. It includes $650 million in funding for the border wall. That’s something Republicans wanted, that was part of the compromise. Under Donald Trump, you criticized the wall more than 50 times. You called it ‘stupid, useless, and a medieval vanity project.’ Is a border wall stupid?,” Cooper asked Harris. 

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Harris pivoted from directly answering the question to citing Trump. 

“Let’s talk about Donald Trump and that border wall,” Harris said while laughing. “So remember, Donald Trump said Mexico would pay for it. Come on, they didn’t. How much of that wall did he build? I think the last number I saw was about 2%. And then when it came time for him to do a photo op, you know, where he did it? In the part of the wall that President Obama built.”

“So you don’t think it’s stupid anymore?” Cooper later asked. 

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“I think what he did and how he did it was, did not make much sense because he actually didn’t do much of anything. I just talked about that wall, right? We just talked about it. He didn’t actually do much of anything,” she responded, not citing Trump by name, but referring to his leadership as president. 

At another point, Cooper asked Harris about her plans to tackle reported price gouging by corporations, with Harris answering that she “took this issue on” when she served as California attorney general before admonishing Trump for not attending the town hall. CNN held the town hall after proposing a second presidential debate between Harris and Trump for Oct. 23. Harris accepted the debate, but Trump declined, spurring the network to host a town hall instead. 

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“By the way, again, Donald Trump should be here tonight to talk with you and answer your questions. He’s not, he refused to come. But understand that part of his plan is to put in place a national sales tax of at least 20% on everyday goods and necessities, and that, by economist estimates — independent economists — would cost you, as the American consumer and taxpayer, an additional $4,000 a year,” Harris claimed. 

Harris was also asked about codifying Roe v. Wade, which sparked the vice president to again attack Trump while signaling support to end the filibuster. 

“You’ve talked about codifying Roe v Wade. That would require 60 votes in the Senate, a majority of the House. That’s a big— that’s a big leap. We don’t have that yet. If that’s not possible to codify it in the House, what do you do?” Cooper asked.

“I think we need to take a look at the filibuster, to be honest with you. But the reality of it is this, let’s talk about how we got here. When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v Wade,” she said. “And they did as he intended. And now, in 20 states, we have abortion bans.” 

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Harris was directly asked about Trump a handful of times during the debate — with her answers included in the total count of 26 Trump mentions — most notably when Cooper asked her about an X post comparing Trump to Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler. Earlier Wednesday, former Trump administration chief of staff John Kelly claimed to the media that Trump praised “Hitler’s generals” for their loyalty, which Harris repeated in an X post that day. 

“If the president of the United States, the commander in chief, is saying to his generals, in essence, ‘Why can’t you be more like Hitler’s generals?’ Anderson, come on. This is a serious, serious issue. And we know who he is. He admires dictators, sending love letters back and forth with Kim Jong Un,” Harris said at one point. She also told Cooper that she believes Trump is a “fascist.” 

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Harris sat down last week for her first interview with Fox News since rising to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Biden dropped out of the race in July amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity and age. During that interview, Harris cited Trump by name 23 times. 

“More than 70% of people tell the country is on the wrong track. They say the country is on the wrong track. If it’s on the wrong track, that track follows three and a half years of you being vice president and President Biden being president. That is what they’re saying, 79% of them. Why are they saying that?” Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier asked Harris during the interview. “If you’re turning the page, you’ve been in office for three and a half years.”

“And Donald Trump has been running for office since…” Harris responded, while Baier interjected, “But you’ve been the person holding the office.” 

At another point, Baier asked Harris: “Your campaign slogan is a ‘New way forward’ and ‘It’s time to turn the page.’ You’ve been vice president for three and a half years, so what are you turning the page from?” 

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“Well, first of all, turning the page from the last decade in which we have been burdened with the kind of rhetoric coming from Donald Trump that has been designed and implemented to divide our country and have Americans literally point fingers at each other. Rhetoric and an approach to leadership that suggests that the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of what we all know, the strength of leadership is based on who you lift up,” Harris responded.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign regarding the vice president repeatedly citing Trump when asked about her policies, but did not immediately receive a reply. 

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