Former President Donald Trump has brought in former Democratic lawmaker and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard to help in his debate preparation against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump and Harris are set to face off on Sept. 10, with ABC News hosting the event.
Trump would like to see two more debates, including one on Fox News, but Harris has so far only committed to one.
The New York Times reported that Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Gabbard’s debate prep involvement.
Leavitt said in an email to the Times that Trump has “proven to be one of the best debaters in political history as evidenced by his knockout blow to Joe Biden. He does not need traditional debate prep but will continue to meet with respected policy advisers and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2020.”
The Times noted that Gabbard brings some key qualities in her role of helping Trump prepare for his debate against Harris.
Do you like Tulsi Gabbard?
Yes: 96% (1241 Votes)
No: 4% (58 Votes)
They include: “She’s a woman, at a moment when Mr. Trump is for a second time facing a woman as his general election rival; she’s a former House member, giving her policy experience; and, perhaps most importantly for Mr. Trump, she has been on a debate stage with Ms. Harris and delivered a stinging attack against her record as a prosecutor.”
Gabbard had some stand-out moments against Harris when the two shared the Democratic presidential primary debate stage during the 2020 election cycle.
In July 2019, Gabbard said Harris, who served as California’s attorney general and as district attorney in San Francisco, “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”
Further, the then-congresswoman accused Harris of trying to obstruct an appeals court from considering new DNA evidence that would have let an innocent man on death row go free until a court “forced her to do so.”
NEW: Trump has brought in Tulsi Gabbard to advise him ahead of the debates against Kamala Harris according to the NYT.
The development is likely in response to the time Gabbard absolutely demolished Harris during the CNN debate in 2019.
Trump has “proven to be one of the best… pic.twitter.com/hhimbD1hX4
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 16, 2024
The Times reported in 2018 that the case of Kevin Cooper “is the story of a broken justice system. It appears that an innocent man was framed by sheriff’s deputies and is on death row in part because of dishonest cops, sensational media coverage and flawed political leaders—including Democrats like [Gov. Jerry] Brown and Kamala Harris…”
Harris responded to the Gabbard’s allegation saying that she was “proud of making a decision to not just give fancy speeches, or be in a legislative body and give speeches on the floor, but actually doing the work.”
Gabbard asserted, “The bottom line is, Senator Harris, when you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people’s lives, you did not.”
“And the people who suffered under your reign as prosecutor — you owe them an apology,” she added.
The Times reported that Trump does not do traditional debate prep, but ahead of his June 27 face-off with Biden, “he sat with advisers for blocks of time or informally on plane trips and discussed potential topics and lines of questioning. In more formal sessions at Mar-a-Lago, aides have sat in chairs opposite him, playing the role of moderators.”
Presumably, Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent in 2022, will advise Trump in this way, but one could foresee her perhaps taking on the role of Harris in some back-and-forth exchanges.
