Kamala Harris criticizes Pence for covid-19 crisis 1:37
(CNN) -
US Vice President Mike Pence tried to defend President Donald Trump's record against Senator Kamala Harris during Wednesday's vice presidential debate.
However, he often painted a picture that did not match the reality of the past four years.
Pence, who works for a president who lies frequently, accused Harris of being insincere when she told voters that if you had a pre-existing health condition "they will come for you."
Minute by minute: Vice-presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence
"Senator Harris, you have the right to have your own opinion, but you have no right to have your own facts," said Pence, in an incredibly cheeky phrase under the circumstances.
At another point, Pence - while criticizing Harris and Biden for repeatedly eluding whether or not they agree with calls by some Democrats to add more justices to the Supreme Court with the goal of countering a conservative majority - said the American people would have to vote for Trump in November to respect a constitutional separation of powers.
However, the Trump administration has blocked investigations of Democrats in Congress on multiple occasions, frequently imposing presidential privilege and refusing to recognize that Congress has an egalitarian branch of government.
Polls
Pence did his best to speak positively of Trump's length of office at a time when the electoral race appears to be drifting away from the president.
A CNN poll released Tuesday shows Trump trailing by 16 points nationally and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the most crucial challenge for the country since World War II, is receiving intense scrutiny after his own. diagnosis with covid-19 last week.
Pence tried to claim that Trump has created a strong economy without acknowledging its collapse in recent months;
touted his prowess in achieving international agreements, particularly with respect to Israel and the Middle East, while ignoring the growing isolation of the United States from its traditional allies abroad, and highlighted Trump's stance on trade while the country's trade deficit is at its lowest. highest point in 14 years.
Peaceful transition
Perhaps the moment when Pence seemed most in line with the commander-in-chief was when he refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power, as his boss did in the first presidential debate last week.
When asked what he would do if Trump refused to accept the election result, Pence said he believed Trump would win in November.
When you speak of accepting the election results, I must tell you, Senator, that your party has spent the last three and a half years trying to overturn the results of the last elections.
It's amazing, ”said Pence
He then launched attacks on investigations into Russia and Ukraine that led to Trump's impeachment last year.
"I think we are going to win this election, President Trump and I fight every day in court to prevent Joe Biden and Kamala Harris from changing the rules and creating a huge opportunity for voter fraud.
If we have a free and fair election, we will have confidence in it.
Harris, on the offensive in the debate
Harris forced Pence to defend Trump's time in office early and consistently throughout the debate, pressuring him on the economy, trade deals, climate change and healthcare, as well as the response to the coronavirus.
It turned a question about the transparency of Trump and Biden's health records into a coup that Trump failed to pay federal income taxes in 10 out of 15 recent years and only paid $ 750 in 2016 and 2017.
"It would be very good to know who the president of the United States, the commander in chief, owes money to," he said.
Pence shook his head and claimed that the president had said those reports "are not accurate."
He also assured that Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars in taxes and has published "stacks" of financial disclosure forms.
Pence Strikes Back
Pence argued that Trump's experience in the corporate world had helped build an economy that was roaring before the pandemic.
The vice president attacked Biden's economic policies, saying he would increase taxes on American workers that would harm the nation's economic recovery.
He defended the aid that was approved by Congress in association with the White House, saying, "We have literally spared no expense to help the American people and the American worker through this."
Harris and Pence also clashed over Trump's trade war with China.
"They lost that trade war," Harris said, accusing the administration of shedding 300,000 manufacturing jobs and bankrupting farmers.
Pence launched into an opening to attack Biden for his vote as senator to approve permanent normal trade relations with China, paving the way for the Asian giant to join the World Trade Organization and subsequently an explosion in his economic development.
«Did we lose the trade war with China?
Joe Biden never got rid of her.
Joe Biden has been an entertainer from China for the past decades, ”said Pence.
Covid at the center of the vice-presidential debate
Harris swiftly condemned the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic during the opening of the vice presidential debate on Wednesday, noting that some 210,000 people have died and more than 7.5 million people have contracted the disease.
Kamala Harris rebukes Mike Pence for transparency on coronavirus crisis
"The American people have witnessed the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country," Harris said.
He argued that frontline workers had been treated as "sacrificial workers" and that Trump had repeatedly downplayed the severity of the virus, while discouraging people from wearing masks.
Those events put Pence, who heads the White House coronavirus task force, on the defensive at a time when the Trump campaign desperately needs a restart.
The vice president admitted that the "nation has gone through a very difficult time this year", although he insisted: "But from day one President Donald Trump has put the health of the United States first."
Trump with coronavirus
The president's covid-19 diagnosis and growing circle of infected attendees have made the administration's reckless handling of the coronavirus the central theme of the campaign once again, and questions still surround Pence's exposition. the coronavirus less than a week after Trump tested positive.
The virus remains one of the main problems on the minds of Americans, who are already voting less than a month before Election Day.
In recent days, Trump has fallen further behind Biden in the polls - a CNN national poll released Tuesday showed the president trailing his opponent by 16 points - as Americans recoil from his erratic behavior and his disregard for the dangers of the virus.
Pence was forced to answer for the president's lax handling of the virus, as well as Trump's decision to reject the advice of scientists and top medical advisers by continuing to hold rallies and events with large crowds of non-conforming supporters. they socially distanced or wore masks.
Despite those political events, which ignored the medical advice of experts in the midst of a pandemic and drew large crowds at a time when many Americans are being forced to stay away from family and friends to avoid transmission of the disease, Pence charged Harris for being part of an effort to play politics with the pandemic.
"You continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine," Pence told Harris, noting that she has questioned the safety of a potential coronavirus vaccine because she feels Trump has politicized the speed of its production.
"Stop playing politics with people's lives."
Pence, negative
Pence was at White House receptions and an event in the Rose Garden, events that appear to have accelerated the spread of the virus in the White House.
The vice president has repeatedly tested negative, most recently on Wednesday, and has not self-quarantined.
He and Harris were separated during the debate by Plexiglas barriers, at a distance of 3.5 meters.
Pence tried to deflect the senator's criticism by describing it as a reprimand to the American people who have endured hard times and to first responders who put themselves in danger.
"I am going to speak for what the American people have done," Pence said, defending the administration, noting that it has been pressuring scientists and pharmaceutical companies to produce a vaccine in record time.
At one point, Pence tried to interrupt Harris as she criticized the administration's handling of the pandemic, and Harris was quick to interrupt him.
"Mr. Vice President, I'm talking," he said.
Harris dismissed Pence's claims to speak on behalf of the American people.
"The American people are respected when they are told the truth," he said.
A crucial night
While debates between vice presidential candidates have generally not made much of a difference in the outcome of the election, voters might pay more attention to this due to the age of the two men at the top of the ballot.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden, 77, won the primary after posing as a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders, and Harris, 55, was seen as the embodiment of that idea when he chose her as his running mate. and made her the heir apparent within the party.
Kamala Harris questions Trump for failing to condemn white supremacism
The 74-year-old Trump's covid diagnosis has drawn even more attention to his age.
And due to the lack of transparency from the White House doctors, it is unclear if he could face medical complications during his fight with the coronavirus.
Regardless, Pence, 61, has long been viewed as one of the top Republican contenders for the White House in 2024.
Tuesday's CNN / SSRS poll showed Biden widened his lead over Trump this cycle, 57% to 41%, after his contentious first debate in Ohio and the president's Covid-19 diagnosis.
Biden has a narrower lead over Trump in the key states that will determine the Electoral College outcome.
In the wake of that poll, the Trump campaign and high-ranking Republicans on Capitol Hill told CNN's Jeff Zeleny that Wednesday could be one of the last great opportunities to try to relaunch the race.
"If we don't stop the bleeding tonight, the remaining three weeks could be daunting for Republicans," said a Republican senator close to the White House.
"Everyone in the party knows it."
Vice Presidential Debate Kamala Harris Mike Pence