Kamala Harris addresses flip-flopping, takes on Trump in CNN interview with Walz

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris defended her evolving positions on border security and climate policy on Thursday, while promising to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet, during her first sit-down interview since becoming Democrats' 2024 presidential nominee.

The interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash covered other notable ground, including how Harris learned via a Sunday phone call July 21 that President Joe Biden was going to end his reelection bid and endorse his vice president as his replacement . Harris had just finished eating pancakes with her young nieces and other family members visiting her in Washington when she answered Biden's call.

"I asked him, 'Are you sure?' And he said, 'Yes,'" Harris said in the interview recorded earlier in the afternoon during a campaign stop with her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at a diner in Savannah, Georgia.

More: In CNN interview excerpts, Harris says values have 'not changed' as policy stances shift

The Democratic presidential ticket interview − aired during primetime with multiple commercial breaks − came amid sustained criticism from Republican rival Donald Trump's campaign over Harris waiting five weeks to take formal interview questions from a reporter.

That long wait made for higher stakes than a typical candidate's conversation with a prominent journalist, particularly with Election Day now 67 days away.

Harris said she believes Americans are "ready for a new way forward," accusing Trump of pushing an agenda and fostering an environment over the past decade that is about "diminishing the character and the strength of who we are as Americans" and dividing the nation.

"And I think people are ready to turn the page on that," Harris said.

Harris, who has surged in polls since entering the 2024 White House race, still has not held a press conference since she took the torch as the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out.

Walz joined Harris in the interview, a move that attracted more scrutiny from Republicans. Although a joint interview with a running mate follows precedent, Republican critics argued that her first interview as a candidate should have been solo.

More: Exclusive: Kamala Harris surges ahead of Donald Trump in latest poll taken after DNC

Day 1 priority? The middle class

Harris said her “day one” priorities would be to take actions to "support and strengthen the middle class."

She pointed to her recently announced plans to reduce costs of groceries through an anti-price gouging measure and expand the construction of affordable housing. She reiterated her campaign theme of igniting an “opportunity economy."

"It's going to be about, one, implementing my plan for what I call an opportunity economy," Harris said of her plans on the first day of her administration. "There are a number of things on day one."

Harris was asked whether "Bidenomics" − the onetime slogan of Biden's economic agenda − has been a success.

"I'll say that that's good work. There's more to do, but that's good work." Harris said, touting the Biden administration's efforts to expand domestic manufacturing and provide families with children tax credits to lower the poverty rate.

No regrets on defending Biden's fitness

Harris said she has no regrets about defending the mental fitness of the 81-year-old Biden, who dropped out of the election following a disastrous debate performance against Trump in late June that raised serious questions about his cognitive abilities.

"He is so smart and loyal to the American people," Harris said. "And I have spent hours upon hours with him being in the Oval Office or the Situation Room. He has the intelligence, the commitment and judgment and disposition that I think the American people rightly deserve in their president."

Harris then made a dig at Trump: "By contrast, the former president has none of that."

'This war must end,' Harris says of Israel-Hamas

Harris, whose campaign rallies have increasingly faced interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters, reiterated her support for Israel in its war against Hamas and said she opposes withholding U.S. weapons from going to Israel.

"Let me be very clear. I'm unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel's defense and its ability to defend itself," Harris said, also adding that "far too many innocent Palestinian have been killed."

Like she has for weeks, Harris again stressed the Biden administration is working to finalize a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that would include the release of Israeli hostages from Gaza.

"We have got to get a deal done," Harris said. "This war must end."

Harris addresses flip-flopping on issues

Bash pressed Harris on her positions that have changed as a 2024 presidential candidate compared to her time as a U.S. senator of California and when she ran unsuccessfully in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries.

For example, Harris was a lead Senate sponsor of Green New Deal legislation but now has distanced herself from some of its most aggressive measures. She previously said she supports a ban on fracking to extract natural gas but now opposes such a ban.

“I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed," Harris told Bash.

More: Harris campaign defends having Walz join first interview, facing backlash

Regarding the Green New Deal, Harris said, "I have always believed – and I have worked on it – that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.”

Harris pointed to passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, one of Biden's signature bills, which included incentives for the manufacturing of electric vehicles and other investments in clean energy.

“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, as an example. That value has not changed,” she said.

But when it comes to fracking, which environmentalists have long raised concerns about, Harris told Bash: "As president, I will not ban fracking."

On the border

Harris also denied that her position has changed on securing the southern border.

After opposing the construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border as a 2020 presidential candidate, Harris backed bipartisan border legislation pushed by the Biden administration that would have allocated unspent dollars to continue the construction of a border wall, among a host of other measures.

The bill, which Senate Republicans killed at the urging of Trump, sought to impose tough new restrictions on asylum seekers. Biden later took executive action to turn away migrants who do not enter the country through legal ports of entry.

“My value around what we need to do to secure our border. That value has not changed," Harris said. "I spent two terms as the attorney general of California prosecuting transnational criminal organization, violations of American laws regarding the passage illegal passage of guns, drugs, and warnings across our border, about my values."

The Trump campaign slammed Harris' performance in the interview and her defense of several policy reversals.

"Kamala spoke for just over 16 minutes and didn't even address the crime crisis in this nation. She spent a mere 3 minutes and 25 seconds talking about the economy and 2 minutes and 36 seconds talking about immigration," the Trump campaign said in a statement. "Kamala said her values 'have not changed' three separate times. She's still a San Francisco radical."

Walz acknowledges false statement about military service

Walz sat quiet for much of the interview but had one notable exchange when he was about a past false statement in which he claimed he carried "weapons of war" into war.

Walz acknowledged he misspoke, saying, "My wife, an English teacher, will tell you my grammar's not always correct."

He explained that he made the remark when discussing the type of guns he believes children should not have the ability to access. But Walz, a former member of the Minnesota National Guard for 24 years , never served in combat.

"My record speaks for itself," Walz said. "But I think as people are coming to get to know me, I speak like they do. I speak candidly. I wear my emotions on my sleeves, and I speak especially passionately about about our children being shot in schools and around guns."

A Republican appointment to Cabinet?

Harris said she plans to nominate a Republican to her Cabinet if she is elected, continuing her theme from last weeks' Democratic National Convention in Chicago of being a president for "All Americans."

"I think it’s really important," Harris said. "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.”

Harris said she had “no one in particular” in mind when asked if there was a specific Republican she would appoint.

More: More than 200 Bush, McCain, Romney alums endorse Harris for president, criticize Trump

Harris dismisses Trump questioning her Black identity

Harris dismissed Trump recently questioning the Black racial identify of Harris, who is half Black and half Indian-American.

“Same old, tired playbook,” Harris said. “Next question, please.”

Last month, during an interview before the National Association of Black Journalists , Trump said of Harris: "I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black."

Apart from being in attendance during a State of the Union address in the U.S. Capitol, Harris has never been in the same room with Trump. The two major party presidential nominees are set to debate for the first time on Sept. 10.

Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kamala Harris addresses flip-flopping, takes on Trump in CNN interview with Walz