Kamala Harris Pledges to Use Prosecutorial Skills Against Trump

 

Kamala Harris Pledges to Use Prosecutorial Skills Against Trump

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, bolstering Democratic support for her swift presidential bid, rallied her base with an inaugural campaign address on Monday, pledging to take on Republican contender and former President Donald Trump with the fervor of the courtroom prosecutor she once was.

 

"I tackled perpetrators of all kinds: predators who abused women, fraudsters who swindled consumers, and cheats who flouted rules for personal gain," Harris asserted to campaign staff, a mere 28 hours after President Joe Biden, 81, withdrew from the 2024 White House race and endorsed her.

 

"Mark my words, I understand Donald Trump’s ilk. In this campaign, I will proudly — I will proudly pit my record against his," declared Harris, who previously served as California’s attorney general and a U.S. senator before her vice presidency.

 

In response, the Trump campaign had its retort. "Kamala Harris is as inept as Joe Biden and even more liberal," remarked Karoline Leavitt, the campaign's national press secretary. "Kamala must defend her support for Joe Biden’s failed agenda and address her own abysmal, lenient crime record in California."

 

Trump, slated for sentencing in September after being found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to a porn star, also faces criminal charges linked to his attempts to overturn Biden's 2020 win, which he falsely claims was due to election fraud.

 

Biden, having pulled out of the race on Sunday amidst questions regarding his age and health, called into Harris’s campaign event from his Delaware home where he is recuperating from COVID-19. He sounded hoarse but appreciative of his vice president. Biden expressed confidence in his decision to step down. As the oldest individual to ever hold the Oval Office, Biden announced on Sunday he would serve until his term concludes on January 20, 2025.

 

Harris, 59, laid out a series of policies she aims to enact, including legislation to protect abortion rights and ban assault rifles, emphasizing a commitment to revitalizing the middle class.

 

Following Biden’s endorsement on Sunday, Harris swiftly began consolidating Democratic support for her presidential campaign. She secured commitments from hundreds of convention delegates, announced a significant fundraising haul, and garnered endorsements from key party figures.

 

Among her supporters was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who remains influential since stepping down as the party's leader in 2022. On Monday, the AFL-CIO labor union federation, representing 12.5 million workers, also endorsed Harris.

 

The Harris campaign aims to lock in commitments from a majority of the nearly 4,000 Democratic delegates for next month’s Democratic National Convention by Wednesday evening, effectively securing the nomination. Campaign officials and allies have made extensive calls urging delegates to nominate Harris for the November 5 election.

 

Harris’s campaign reported raising $81 million within 24 hours of Biden's exit, marking the highest single-day total for any 2024 campaign. Virtually all prominent Democrats who were potential challengers have thrown their support behind her, including Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Gavin Newsom of California, and Andy Beshear of Kentucky. Whitmer announced on X that she would serve as co-chair of Harris’s campaign.

 

Biden's exit is the latest shock to a tumultuous White House race, marked by his disastrous June 27 debate against Trump and the July 13 near-assassination attempt on Trump during a campaign stop. Harris praised Biden’s service. "Joe Biden’s legacy over the past three years is unparalleled in modern history," she stated at a White House event honoring college athletes.

 

Harris will travel to Milwaukee on Tuesday, the largest city in the battleground state of Wisconsin, which recently hosted the Republican National Convention, showcasing Trump's dominance over his party. Harris, who is Black and Asian American, presents a stark generational and cultural contrast to Trump, 78.

 

The Trump campaign has been preparing for Harris’s rise, releasing a detailed critique of her record on immigration and other issues on Monday, accusing her of being more liberal than Biden. They claimed she favored abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, decriminalizing border crossings, supporting the Green New Deal, backing electric vehicle mandates, and encouraging defund the police efforts.

 

Some of these positions were from her 2020 presidential campaign, where she ran on a more progressive platform than Biden, but were not adopted by the administration, particularly concerning border security and law enforcement.

 

Former Attorney General Eric Holder and his firm, Covington & Burling, are overseeing the vetting of Harris's potential running mates. Trump, whose false claims of election fraud inspired the January 6, 2021, Capitol assault, questioned Democrats’ right to change candidates. "They stole the race from Biden after he won it in the primaries," Trump posted on Truth Social.

 

At a rally for Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, Ohio state Sen. George Lang called for civil war if Trump didn't win the November election, later retracting his statement on X. "We should all be mindful of what is said at political events, myself included," he wrote.

 

Harris is likely to adhere closely to Biden’s foreign policy approach on issues such as China, Iran, and Ukraine, but might adopt a tougher stance with Israel over the Gaza war if elected. Some Democrats are concerned about the historical barriers of racial and gender discrimination. The U.S. has never elected a female president in its nearly 250-year history.

 

Polls conducted before Biden’s withdrawal did not show Harris performing better than Biden against Trump. Biden has not been seen publicly since his COVID-19 diagnosis. He tentatively plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday if he has recovered.