Harris hits Trump on 'The View,' declines to distance herself from Biden

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris declined on Tuesday to distance herself from President Joe Biden's record during an appearance on "The View" − and she hit back at former President Donald Trump's claims about the White House's handling of the southern border and hurricane relief.

It was one of several interviews that Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, is sitting for this week as her campaign tries to reach less-politically engaged voters with the election less than a month out and early voting beginning in some states.

Harris has repeatedly opted for platforms such as the popular podcast "Call Her Daddy," instead of political news shows. She also sat down with radio show host Howard Stern and will appear on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" during a media blitz in New York.

In her first of three appearances on Tuesday, Harris was asked on "The View" whether she would have done something differently than Biden over the past four years.

"There is not a thing that comes to mind," Harris said, noting that she has been "a part of most of the decisions that have had impact" in the Biden administration.

She pointed to legislation that capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors, as well as other efforts to lower prescription drug prices.

"Those were all a shared priority," she told the talk show. Harris has said she would seek to expand the health care benefits to all Americans, regardless of age.

Hammering her Republican opponent, she accused him of being the reason that bipartisan immigration reform legislation had not passed in Congress, an allegation she's frequently raised. "Donald Trump prefers to run on problems, instead of fixing problems. He is not solution oriented," she said.

A bipartisan group of senators spent months last year crafting a border bill, but it quickly lost steam on Capitol Hill after Trump publicly opposed the push.

Harris also hit Trump for unsubstantiated claims that the Biden administration is intentionally withholding disaster aid from Republican areas and diverting relief funds to housing for undocumented immigrants. It's a charge that the FEMA administrator has refuted as “frankly ridiculous and just plain false” while back-to-back hurricanes have lashed over the Southeast.

“It's profound, and it is the height of irresponsibility and, frankly, callousness,” Harris said on “The View” in response to a question about Trump’s comments. “Lives are literally at stake right now.”

“People are losing their homes with no hope of ever being able to reconstruct or return," Harris said as she discussed trips she made to storm-ravaged areas in Georgia and North Carolina.

"The idea that somebody would be playing political games for the sake of himself, but this is so consistent about Donald Trump, he puts himself before the needs of others," she added.

In the appearance, Harris urged Floridians in the path of Hurricane Milton to listen to their local officials. Harris said there may be a tendency by Florida residents who have weathered previous events to write the hurricane off. "This one is going to be different," she warned.

The vice president said the severity of the storm is the reason why she has been trying to reach Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Her comments were the latest volley in a dispute with Florida's top official over the storm response.

"We have to have an agreement that at some point, we all need to work together to combine resources, especially federal, state and local resources, around these kinds of disasters. And I think it's a shame that that hasn't happened," she said.

DeSantis in a Monday evening interview on Fox News' "Hannity" said Harris had never called him until Hurricane Helene hit. He said he'd been in touch with Biden and FEMA about coordinating resources.

"She has no role in this. In fact, she's been vice president for three and a half years. I've dealt with a number of storms under this administration. She has never contributed anything to any of these efforts," he said.

Earlier in the day, Harris had told reporters, in response to a question about a report that DeSantis was ducking her calls, that "playing politics" during an emergency "is just utterly irresponsible, and it is selfish, and it is about political gamesmanship, instead of doing the job that you took an oath to do, which is to put the people first."

Harris reacts to report that Trump shipped Putin COVID-19 testing machines

Later Tuesday, during Harris' appearance on "The Howard Stern Show," the radio host asked her about a revelation in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward, who reported that Trump secretly sent COVID test kits to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his own personal use.

Harris called it "the most recent stark example of who Donald Trump is," that he would secretly send kits to Putin, "an adversary to the United States," at a time when they were in short supply.

"People were dying by the hundreds, everybody was scrambling to get these kits," she said. "... And this guy, who is president of the United States, is sending them to Russia to a murderous dictator for his personal use."

Trump's campaign immediately denied the reporting. Spokesperson Steven Cheung rejected Woodward's reporting in a statement, calling it "made up stories" from a "truly demented and deranged man."

DeSantis and Trump weren't the only Republicans Harris talked about on Tuesday. Asked whether she would appoint former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., to her Cabinet, Harris dodged by pointing out that she has to win the election first.

But she described Cheney, a Trump critic who has endorsed Harris for president, as "remarkable" person who put her country before her party.

On a lighter note, Harris also described, during the interview, working at McDonald's when she was a college student. "It's an experience," she said. "I was doing the fries, and you got to watch the timer, and it's hard work."

But Harris said she recognized that, as a college student, her McDonald's pay was spending money. For others working there, it was the source of their family income.

"That's my takeaway about that experience, as much as anything," she said. "We've still got a lot of work to do to make sure that folks cannot just get by, but get ahead."

In her final interview of the day, Harris shared a beer with host Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The two sipped cans of Miller High Life and talked about pop music (Harris suggested she prefers Aretha Franklin or Eminem), the San Francisco 49ers and what her deceased mother would think of her campaign.

“I miss her every day,” Harris said. But, she added, “She’s with me every day.”

Eventually, the conversation returned to Trump. When Colbert asked if Trump lost the election, Harris ticked off Trump’s various losses and called him “a loser.”

“This is what happens when I drink beer,” she joked.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harris hits Trump on 'The View,' declines to distance herself from Biden