Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that US citizens are ready to “turn the page” on Republican Donald Trump. while defending her party’s policy on energy and immigration issues, as well as on Israel.

Kamala Harris appeared in her first interview as a presidential candidate on CNN with her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walsh.

She accused former President Trump of “dividing the nation” in her much-anticipated first full-length television interview after receiving the Democratic nomination, which she gave to CNN on the sidelines of her tour of Georgia, a key US southern state. .

The Democratic candidate, who chose to promote the message of political reconciliation, estimated that it would be “good for the American people to have a Republican minister in (her) administration” if she emerges as the winner of the November 5 presidential election.

The Biden administration

The vice president of the USA Kamala Harris defended her changes in political positions, President Joe Biden, and her time in the White House in her first interview since becoming the Democratic nominee.

Harris argued that the Biden administration was able to reduce illegal border crossings in recent months and “recover the economy” after the pandemic.

He called the White House’s policies a “success,” pointing specifically to the reduction in prescription drug costs and the unemployment rate: “This is a good job. There is more to be done.”

“I’m so proud to have served as Joe Biden’s vice president,” she said

Kamala Harris during the interview detailed Biden’s decision to drop out of the race

Harris described the moment President Biden called her in July to let her know he had decided to end his re-election bid.

“My first thought wasn’t about me, to be honest with you, my first thought was about him,” Harris said when asked if she sought his support.

The vice president also argued that the president could serve a second term.

“He’s so smart, and I’ve spent hours with him in the Oval Office and in the boardroom. He has the intelligence, commitment, judgment and drive that I think the American people rightfully deserve as their president.”

He said Trump, in contrast, had none of those qualities.

Economy, Migration and War in Gaza

Asked about issues that have been on the campaign trail, Ms Harris assured that if she wins she will “not ban” hydraulic fracturing, a method of hydrocarbon extraction against which they are protesting.

“We can believe in and develop a thriving economy based on clean energy without banning hydraulic fracturing,” the vice president noted, although she has previously opposed the technique, which has been controversial in the key state of Pennsylvania.

On immigration, one of Mr Trump’s favorite issues, the candidate, 59, said there would be “consequences” for people who enter the US illegally if she is elected president. “I think there should be consequences. We have laws that must be respected and enforced,” she said when asked about the politically explosive issue.

The vice-president, who in the past expressed more progressive positions on these two issues, assured that “her values ​​have not changed”.

“I’ve always believed (…) that climate change is real,” that “this is an urgent matter” and the U.S. must meet “the goals” it has set for greenhouse gas emissions, he said .

Republicans often accuse Ms. Harris of backbiting.

“I can’t wait to go on the telefight with ‘partner’ Kamala and show how much of a fraud she is. Harris has changed positions on all issues,” Donald Trump said via Truth Social, a platform of his personal creation, referring to the debate between the two opponents scheduled to take place on September 10.

The billionaire, 78, has been ramping up his personal attacks on the vice president since it became clear she would become the Democratic nominee, following Joe Biden’s much-lauded July 21 decision to drop out of his re-election campaign.

She has characteristically said that she “became black”, for electoral purposes.

Asked about the comment, Kamala Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, declined to elaborate, referring to the Republican’s “same and trite” slogans and adding, “next question please.”

On the other delicate issue on the American political scene, she reaffirmed her support for Israel’s right to “defend itself,” answering “no” when asked if, if elected president in November, she would consider suspending arms deliveries in Israel, as the war in Israel heads into eleven months.

He pointed out that “too many innocent Palestinians have been killed” and again called for a “ceasefire”, but made it clear that he rejects any “change in policy on weapons”.

According to polls, the battle between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will be tough and lopsided, although the vice president seems to be in a better position than the one in which the outgoing president Biden was. A poll published yesterday by the Wall Street Journal puts her ahead by a short lead of one percentage point.

Like Ms. Harris, Mr. Trump emphasizes the so-called “swing states,” without fixed political coloration, that are expected to decide the outcome in November, among them Georgia.

The Republican appeared yesterday in Michigan and was expected in Wisconsin.