"I know Donald Trump's type:" Kamala Harris takes aim at rival's record
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 23. Photo: Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday contrasted her record as a prosecutor with that of former President Trump, who is a convicted felon, during a campaign event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Why it matters: Harris, who stepped into the 2024 race with just over 100 days until the election, is ensuring she stands in stark contrast to her rival.
- "In this campaign, I promise you, I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week," Harris said.
Zoom in: Before becoming a U.S. Senator and then vice president, Harris served as a courtroom prosecutor, district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general of California.
- "In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds: predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain," she said. "So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump's type."
- While attorney general, Harris said she took on one of our country's largest for-profit colleges that was scamming students. "Donald Trump ran a for profit college that scammed students," she added.
- "As a prosecutor, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse," Harris said. "Well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse."
- As attorney general, "I took on the big Wall Street banks and held them accountable for fraud," she said. "Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts."
What they're saying: Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said to Axios in an emailed statement Tuesday evening called Harris a "dangerously liberal" who "needs to answer for her own terrible weak-on-crime record in California."
Zoom out: Harris also addressed where she stands on hot-button issues, including gun violence and abortion.
- The vice president, who has repeatedly criticized the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade and has said Trump is to blame, said that when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, she will sign it into law.
- "We, who believe in reproductive freedom, will stop Donald Trump's extreme abortion bans because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies and not have their government tell them what to do," Harris said.
- She also addressed gun violence, vowing to pass red flag laws, universal background checks and an assault weapons ban.
The bottom line: The vice president said her campaign "is not just about us versus Donald Trump."
- "This campaign is about who we fight for."
Go deeper:
- What's next for Democrats, delegates to replace Biden on the ticket
- Kamala Harris has deep history of appealing to Latino voters
- Schumer and Jeffries endorse Kamala Harris to replace Biden
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
