Harris prepares for debate as Trump talks economy

Issued on: 09.05.2024 – 17:34Changed: 09.05.2024 – 17:32

3 minutes

Ahead of Tuesday's showdown with her Republican rival in Philadelphia, Harris is traveling to Pittsburgh. She has no public campaign events planned there, but she is expected to meet informally with voters.

She will spend much of her time working with advisers to develop strategies and refine her lines of attack, the Washington Post and CNN reported.

Harris' entry into the race six weeks ago fueled enthusiasm among Democrats despairing of President Joe Biden's chances against Trump – but both parties are bracing for a close election on November 5.

In Pennsylvania, Georgia and several other swing states, the elections are likely to be decisive, and polls show that most of these elections are within the margin of error.

“This race is going to be close until the end,” Harris said Wednesday before a rally in New Hampshire, where she unveiled economic proposals, including a lower capital gains tax rate than Biden's plan, to attract moderate voters.

“We are underdogs,” she added.

While Vice President Harris prepares for the debate, her running mate Tim Walz is touring Pennsylvania and holding a campaign rally in Erie, north of Pittsburgh, on Thursday evening.

The debate will be the first-ever meeting between Harris and Trump since the former president refused to attend Biden's inauguration after falsely claiming he was cheated in the 2020 election.

Harris' meeting in Pennsylvania reflects Biden's week-long preparations at Camp David in Maryland for his disastrous debate with Trump on June 27, which effectively ended his presidential campaign.

She has hired “House of Cards” consultant Karen Dunn, who led debate preparations for Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016, as well as senior political adviser Rohini Kosoglu.

Trump, 78, said he was preparing – as he did against Biden – through campaign speeches and political discussions with a close circle of advisers.

“Evil” and “unfair”

During a Fox News town hall meeting in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, the Republican baselessly accused debate moderator ABC of bias, called the network and one of its star moderators “mean” and made unsubstantiated claims that Harris had been shown the debate questions in advance.

“They are very nasty and I think a lot of people are going to watch to see how nasty and unfair they are,” Trump complained.

ABC News released its debate rules on Wednesday. As with the Biden-Trump showdown, the candidates' microphones will be muted while the time belongs to the other candidate.

There will be no audience in the hall and “no topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaign teams or candidates,” ABC said in a statement.

On Thursday, Trump will speak remotely at a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas and in person at the Economic Club of New York.

His legal troubles came to the fore again on Thursday when a Washington court summoned prosecutors and defense attorneys to a hearing on Trump's case, which is accused of helping to overturn the 2020 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

This is Trump's first hearing since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a former president enjoys broad immunity from prosecution for official acts committed during his term in office.

The White House on Thursday called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop interfering in the election after he ironically claimed he supported Harris.

“The only people who should determine who the next president of the United States will be are the American people,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

© 2024 AFP