US Vice-President Kamala Harris defended changing her mind on key issues in her first interview since entering the presidential race.
The Democratic nominee was pressed on why her policies on immigration and climate have changed since she ran for president in 2019.
“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” she told CNN’s Dana Bash.
Ms Harris was under pressure to finally face questions but she shared the 27-minute, pre-recorded interview with her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Her Republican opponent Donald Trump used a single-word in his review after it concluded.
“BORING!!!” the former president wrote on Truth Social.
The vice-president was forced to defend the White House’s economic track record, as inflation and high cost-of-living prices continue to hurt Americans.
Polls have regularly suggested that voters would prefer Mr Trump’s handling of the economy.
But the most tense exchanges centred on the evolution of her policy positions.
Harris questioned about fracking and climate change position
Ms Harris referred to her effort to address climate change and support of the Green New Deal, a Democratic proposal to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, as something that remains a steadfast value when pressured about her shifting policy positions.
“I have always believed, and I’ve worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter,” she said.
The vice-president pointed to the Biden administration’s work on the Inflation Reduction Act, which funneled hundreds of billions of dollars to renewable energy and electric vehicle tax credit and rebate programs.
“We have set goals for the United States of America, and by extension the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.”
Ms Harris did not explain her reversal on banning fracking – a technique for recovering gas and oil from shale rock used by an industry that is particularly strong in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Ms Harris had said “There is no question I’m in favor of banning fracking” during a CNN town hall in 2019. But she has backpedaled on that view since becoming vice president – even casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate on new fracking leases.
In a CNN interview on Thursday, she said: “As president, I will not ban fracking.”
Brian Fallon, a campaign spokesperson, said on social media that the Biden administration’s “clean energy investments have proven the ability to make progress on climate without those past stances”.
Source: BBC
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