Harris defends stance on Israel-Gaza, US border and fracking in CNN interview; Tim Walz shrugs off Republican attacks – live | US elections 2024

Here are some of the key lines from Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s CNN interview, their first since Harris became the Democratic party’s presidential nominee.

• Asked what she would do on day one in the White House if she was elected, Harris said that she would focus on her “opportunity economy” plan to bring down the cost of everyday goods.

• Harris said she would not ban fracking if she became president. Asked why she had changed her previous position on fracking, Harris said “my values have not changed”.

• Asked why the Biden administration did not act sooner to cut down on border crossings, Harris side-stepped the question and instead blamed Donald Trump for telling his allies to kill a bipartisan border bill.

• Harris said she believes “there should be consequence” to illegal border crossings, a change in her position from 2020 when she agreed with a statement that illegal border crossings should be decriminalized.

• Harris said she would name a Republican to her cabinet if she was elected to the White House.

• Asked about Trump’s insulting claim that she “turned Black”, Harris replied: “Same old, tired playbook. Next question, please.”

• Harris did not express any policy differences from Biden on the issue of the US’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza. Harris said she is “unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself” adding: “That’s not going to change.”

• Walz clarified previous statements he made about his military service and the infertility treatment his wife underwent in becoming pregnant with their children.

• Harris said she was sitting down to do a puzzle with her nieces when she found out that Biden was stepping aside. “The phone rang. And it was Joe Biden. And – and he told me what he had decided to do. And – I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’”

Donald Trump, at a town hall event in La Crosse, Wisconsin, repeated his usual talking points on immigration and the economy.

In response to a question about job opportunities for young people, Trump blamed immigrants, saying there had been “no job creation” from Joe Biden and falsely claiming that all new jobs “were filled by illegal immigrants”.

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congressperson turned Trump campaign surrogate, denounced “warmongers” and set up Trump to riff on the topic of foreign policy.

As he frequently does, Trump praised Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister, and told the audience that Orbán “said you have to bring Trump back as president of the United States”.

Trump promised later in the evening to “bring back that level of respect” from foreign adversaries, which he claimed he enjoyed during his first term.

At a town hall event in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Thursday night, Donald Trump and former Democratic congressperson Tulsi Gabbard, now a Trump campaign surrogate, attempted to pitch themselves to the crowd as supporters of reproductive rights.

Gabbard, who moderated the event after endorsing the former president earlier this week, opened the town hall with emotional remarks about her experience with in vitro fertilization. The comments came shortly after Trump said in an NBC interview that he would make the government or insurance companies pay for IVF if he’s elected, although it’s unclear how he would accomplish that or if he’s serious about the proposal given the pivotal role he played in overturning Roe v Wade.

“We were not successful in trying to get pregnant. For us, IVF seemed to be the only option and the last resort,” said Gabbard, who described to a quiet audience the costly and at times painful fertility treatment process she said she underwent 10 years ago.

Following Gabbard’s comments on IVF, Trump reiterated his promise from earlier in the day. Trump said:

We wanna produce babies in this country, right?

By stating his support for IVF and claiming that he would leave abortion laws to the states if elected, Trump is hoping to retain the support of women who count reproductive rights as a top issue – but risks alienating his supporters on the religious right.

Lawyers for Donald Trump filed a petition seeking a federal court to intervene in his New York hush-money criminal case, in an attempt to overturn his felony conviction and indefinitely delay his sentencing scheduled for next month.

In a petition filed late on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers argued that the prosecution violated the former president’s constitutional rights and ran afoul of the supreme court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.

If the case is moved to federal court, Trump’s lawyers wrote, they will then seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed.

If the case remains in state court, with sentencing proceeding as scheduled, it could amount to election interference, they said.

Tim Walz is asked about the moment during the Democratic national convention when his son, Gus, was seen tearing up and saying: “That’s my dad.”

Walz says it was important to have his son “feel a sense of pride” that he was “trying to do the right thing”.

You try to protect your kids, you know it brings notoriety and things but it was such a visceral emotional moment. I’m grateful I got to experience and I’m so proud of him.

Kamala Harris is asked to discuss the moment she learned Joe Biden was stepping aside from the presidential race.

Harris says she was with her family at the time, including her baby nieces and had just had pancakes and bacon. She says:

The phone rang and it was Joe Biden and he told me what he had decided to do and I asked him, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said ‘yes’ and that’s how I learned about it.

Asked whether she asked for Biden’s endorsement, Harris says the president “was very clear that he was going to support me”.

She says that when Biden called her, her first thought “was not about me”, adding: “My first thought was about him, to be honest.”

Kamala Harris is asked if she has any regrets about previously telling the American people about Joe Biden’s capacity to serve another four years as president.

Harris says “not at all”, and that serving with Biden has been “one of the greatest honors of my career”.

Biden “cares so deeply about the American people”, and is “so smart and loyal”, Harris says.

He has the intelligence, the commitment, judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president. By contrast, the former president has none of that.

Tim Walz is asked to clarify previous comments he and his campaign has made about his time serving in the army national guard.

In a 2018 video clip, Walz spoke out about against gun violence and said, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.” He subsequently apologized and said it was a misstatement.

Walz was in the army national guard for 24 years, in infantry and artillery, deploying in response to natural disasters on US soil and to Europe in support of operations in Afghanistan. He retired in 2005, to run for Congress, shortly before his unit deployed to Iraq.

Walz says he is “incredibly proud” of the 24 years he served wearing the uniform of this country and that his record “speaks for itself”.

He tells CNN that he speaks “candidly”, adding that he wears his “emotions on my sleeves”. “My record has been out there for over 40 years,” he adds.

Kamala Harris is asked if she would do anything differently than Joe Biden in the US’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza.

Harris says she is “unequivocal and unwavering” in her “commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself”, adding: “That’s not gonna change.”

She says “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed”, and that “we have got to get a deal done”.

This war must end, and we must get a deal that is about getting the hostages out.

Kamala Harris is asked about Donald Trump’s questioning of her racial identity, to which she responds that it is part of the “same old tired playbook”.

During a panel hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) last month, Trump questioned Harris’s race, saying: “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black.”

Kamala Harris expressed openness to appointing a Republican into her cabinet. “I’ve got 68 days to go with this election, so I’m not putting the cart before the horse,” Harris told CNN.

I think it’s really important. I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican.

On the subject of immigration, Kamala Harris accused Donald Trump of killing a bipartisan border bill earlier this year.

Harris was asked why the Biden administration waited more than three years to implement sweeping asylum instructions. Harris side-stepped the question, and said:

Trump got word of this bill that would have contributed to securing our border and because he believed it would not have helped him politically, he told his folks in Congress, ‘Don’t put it forward.’