(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Donald Trump tapped former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, to sharpen his already commanding debating style ahead of the ABC debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10.
In remarks to the liberal New York Times, Trump campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Gabbard’s role in the campaign.
“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 said.
Gabbard, who debated Harris during the 2020 Democratic primary, is often credited as the leading force behind Harris’s exit from the race. Harris called it quits before the Iowa caucuses.
During the primary debates, Harris struggled to defend her foreign policy and criminal justice records. One viral moment occurred when Gabbard lambasted Harris for prosecuting marijuana offenses.
“There’s too many examples to cite but she put over 1,5000 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it if she ever smoked marijuana,” Gabbard said during the debate.
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
Gabbard also rebuked Harris for blocking evidence that could have freed an innocent man from death row “until the court ordered her to do so.”
She added, “She kept prison in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California and she fought to keep cash-bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way.”
NEWS
Former President Trump has brought in former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard into debate prep.
NYT says she has joined at least one session with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Gabbard and Vice-President Kamala Harris had several debate moments during the 2020 presidential primary… pic.twitter.com/h4dIDl1LmW
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) August 16, 2024
Gabbard is the author of a New York Times best-selling book, For Love of Country: Leave the Democrat Party Behind. She represented Hawaii’s Second Congressional District from 2013 to 2021.
She left the Democratic Party in 2022, accusing it of being “under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.”