Kamala Harris Said She Spoke To Donald Trump Following Apparent Assassination Attempt, Told Him There “Was No Place For Political Violence”
Vice President Kamala Harris said that she spoke to her political rival Donald Trump to check to “see if he was okay” following an apparent assassination attempt on his life on Sunday.
Speaking at a National Association of Black Journalists event this afternoon, Harris said that she told Trump “what I have said publicly, that there is no place for political violence in our country.”
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“I am in this election, in this race, for many reasons, including to fight for our democracy. And in a democracy there is no place for political violence. We can and should have healthy debates and discussion and disagreements, but not resort to violence to resolve those issues.”
In a Fox Digital interview, Trump blamed the assassination attempt on Harris and President Joe Biden’s “rhetoric,” including their warnings that Trump would be a “threat to democracy.”
But Trump has consistently used extreme rhetoric when talking about Biden and Harris, including that the vice president was a “Marxist” and that her policies were “fascist.” In the same Fox interview, Trump said that Biden and Harris “are people that want to destroy our country” and that they were “the enemy from within.”
Biden also called Trump, and the former president said that he “couldn’t have been nicer,” per CNN.
Harris’ NABJ appearance was scheduled after she did not make their convention in July. Trump did appear at that event, where he questioned whether Harris “happened to turn Black,” suggesting that she was changing her political identity because it was more advantageous politically. But that is not true, per a Reuters fact check.
Harris has brushed off Trump’s comments as the “same, old tired playbook.” Trump’s claim was not raised during today’s NABJ interview.
Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested on Sunday after a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle as he was scanning Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, FL. Trump had been playing a round and was about 300 to 500 yards away, authorities said. The agent fired at the gunman, who later fled in his vehicle and was apprehended in a nearby county. So far, Routh has been charged with two violations of gun possession laws.
Harris said that she did have full confidence in the Secret Service to protect her and her family, but said, “Not everybody has Secret Service protection and there are far too many people in our country right now who are not feeling safe.”
Harris chided Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, for their comments about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH, suggesting that the result has been “a whole community put in fear.” Neither GOP candidate has retracted their claim that migrants were stealing people’s pets to eat, even though city officials and the state’s governor, Mike DeWine, have said that there is no evidence to substantiate that.
“When you have these positions, when you have that kind of microphone in front of you, you really ought to understand at a very deep level how much your words have meaning,” Harris said, citing bomb threats that have occurred in the community since then.
She added, “This is exhausting and it’s harmful and it’s hateful and grounded in the same age old stuff we should not have the tolerance for.”
In a statement, Janiyah Thomas, Black media director for the Trump campaign, said Harris “has failed Black Americans. She told the NABJ that after three and half years of her failed policies, grocery prices are too high and the American Dream is unattainable for young Americans.”
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