Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump reportedly met with former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) ahead of a forthcoming debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The New York Times reports the two former politicians participated in a “practice session” at his home, Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with Trump’s schedule.
“[Trump has] proven to be one of the best debaters in political history as evidenced by his knockout blow to Joe Biden,” Karoline Leavitt, the former president’s spokeswoman, told the Times in an email.
“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,” she added.
“Ms. Gabbard brings some key qualities to the role for Mr. Trump: She’s a woman, at a moment when Mr. Trump is for a second time facing a woman as his general election rival; she’s a former House member, giving her policy experience; and, perhaps most importantly for Mr. Trump, she has been on a debate stage with Ms. Harris and delivered a stinging attack against her record as a prosecutor,” the outlet reports.
Gabbard, who launched a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, is often credited for denting Harris’ polling numbers during the primary.
Though Harris initially nabbed 15 percent support from voters in June of that year, within five months she ended her campaign after polling in single digits.
Some outlets suggested Gabbard’s steely attack on Harris’ record as a prosecutor contributed to the former California senator's decline in popularity.
During the July 31, 2019 debate, Gabbard voiced her concern over the former senator’s contribution to a broken criminal justice system.
“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 said, as the audience cheered. “She blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row until the courts forced her to do so. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California.”
Gabbard added: “And she fought to keep [a] cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way.”
Harris responded by saying she “significantly” reformed California’s criminal justice system while serving as the state’s attorney general.
“I am proud of that work, and I am proud of making a decision to not just give fancy speeches or be in a legislative body and give speeches on a floor, but actually doing the work, of being in the position to use the power that I had to reform a system that is badly in need of reform,” she said. NEW: Trump has brought in Tulsi Gabbard to advise him ahead of the debates against Kamala Harris according to the NYT.
The development is likely in response to the time Gabbard absolutely demolished Harris during the CNN debate in 2019.
Trump has "proven to be one of the best… pic.twitter.com/hhimbD1hX4
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 16, 2024
Trump and Harris are scheduled to square in their first presidential debate on Sept. 10 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
The debate will be hosted by ABC News and moderated by anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis.
