Vice President Kamala Harris is sharing her opinion on former President Donald Trump’s potential running mates less than five months out of the U.S. presidential election.
Trump’s campaign has reportedly sent VP vetting materials to three Republicans : Sens. J.D. Vance (Ohio), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Gov. Doug Burgum (N.D.).
The former president’s team has also requested documents from Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), Reps. Byron Donalds (Fla.), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
In an interview with politicio playbook over the weekend, Harris targeted Trump’s potential running mates over their position on abortion, which has proven to be a winning issue for Democrats, noting that some of the Republicans on his list went as far as voting against a Senate bill codifying American’s right to contraception last week.
“Everyone on that list has supported a Trump abortion ban in their state or has called for a national ban,” she said.
It’s clear “Trump wants an enabler,” Harris added.
“He doesn’t want a governing partner. He doesn’t want another Mike Pence, and I think that is clear,” Harris said. “The litmus test is, are they going to be absolutely loyal to Trump over country or their oath of office, or, frankly, the American people?”
Trump repeatedly attacked his vice president, Pence, over his refusal to overturn the 2020 election results to reverse his defeat. Pence launched his own presidential run last year but dropped out after his candidacy failed to get traction.
Harris also singled out Donalds, representative of Florida’s 19th Congressional District, over his recent comments claiming Black American families were “together” during the era of legal segregation known as Jim Crow.
“It’s sadly yet another example of somebody out of Florida trying to erase or rewrite our true history,” she said.
Trump has previously signaled that he will likely announce his decision at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next month.
Harris has accepted an invitation by CBS News to debate Trump’s potential running mate on either July 23 or Aug. 13.
“I’m ready to make the case — whoever he picks, no matter who it is,” Harris told Playbook.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), previously considered by Trump for the vice president spot but who appears to have fallen off his team’s graces following the publication of her dog killing story in her latest book, encouraged the former president to select a woman.
Noem told CNN’s “State of the Union”: “All the polls tell him in the swing states that a woman on the ticket helps him win.”
