Former President Donald Trump reportedly invited former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to his residence at Mar-a-Lago as he prepares for the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Gabbard, a former combat veteran who served four terms in the House, left the Democratic Party two years ago. Her 2020 presidential campaign allowed her to face off against Harris at two debates. Since suspending her campaign, Gabbard has been a regular on Fox News, criticizing the Biden administration and its policies.
Trump is expected to lean on Gabbard’s policy chops from her four terms in the House, and her experience debating Harris.
According to The New York Times, which first broke the news, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump has “proven to be one of the best debaters in political history as evidenced by his knockout blow to Joe Biden.”
“He does not need traditional debate prep but will continue to meet with respected policy advisers and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2020,” Leavitt added.
The Times report noted Trump is putting more effort into preparing for the upcoming ABC debate on Sept. 10 than for any other debate during the last two election cycles.
What Tulsi Gabbard said to VP Harris at the debate in 2020
At one of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary debates, Gabbard in a lengthy attack aimed at Harris said that although Harris claimed she would be a “prosecutor president,” she felt “deeply concerned” about the former San Francisco district attorney’s record.
“There are too many examples to cite, but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana. She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so,” Gabbard listed out, as the Daily Beast reported.
“She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California; and she fought to keep the cash-bail system in place — that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way.”
Harris dismissed Gabbard’s criticism, saying she is “proud of making a decision to not just give fancy speeches, or be in a legislative body and give speeches on the floor, but actually doing the work.”
Gabbard told The Associated Press she was surprised to witness Harris’ unpreparedness and lack of effort to deny or justify her decisions.
Gabbard suspended her presidential campaign in 2020 months after Harris dropped out and endorsed President Joe Biden.