Vice President Kamala Harris has been poring over briefing books and workshopping answers to policy questions while huddling with aides at a Pittsburgh hotel to get ready to face off against former President Donald Trump, according to multiple sources familiar with her preparations for Tuesday’s debate.
Harris has been devising ways to weave her biography into her answers to try to introduce herself to Americans who may still not know much about how she grew up or her career before she ascended to the vice presidency, the sources said. They said she’s even strategized how to approach possibly shaking hands with Trump onstage (the result: it’ll likely be a game-time decision).
But Harris also is preparing for a variety of potential unscripted — and perhaps history-making — moments, including the possibility that Trump makes derogatory comments about her, according to the sources familiar with her preparations, some of whom are directly involved.
“It’s not beyond the pale that he will mumble ‘this b—-,’” one of the sources said. “That’s not unreasonable to assume. You have to be prepared for anything.”
Asked for comment for this story, spokesman Steven Cheung said, “Why are they even thinking about that word associated with her?”
The New York Times has reported that two people have heard Trump use that word to describe Harris privately, although Cheung has denied that account.
Harris, who arrived at a Pittsburgh hotel on Thursday for some five days of debate preparation, has not participated in a debate in four years, and she’s done few media interviews since announcing her candidacy. Trump, however, is more practiced in fielding unscripted questions. The sources familiar with Harris’ debate preparations said her aides are being diligent about preparing her for Tuesday because they don’t want to underestimate Trump.
Those involved in the process include Harris’ close ally Minyon Moore, as well as the vice president’s national security adviser, Phil Gordon and former domestic policy adviser, Rohini Kosoglu, sources familiar with the preparations said. They said former Hillary Clinton’s aide Philippe Reines, who is playing Trump in mock debates, has dressed up for the sessions in the former president’s signature navy blue suit and red tie.
Part of the intense focus on preparation also derives from the belief among some of Harris’ aides that Trump had a better-than-average performance in his June debate with President Joe Biden.
Yet one of the sources familiar with Harris’ debate preparations expressed concern that Harris might be overpreparing and could risk having a wonky, policy-heavy performance like then-President Barack Obama’s infamous one in 2012.
“My anxiety, it’s just high, because my fear is that they’ll overcook her,” the source said of Harris. “I hope they just prepare for 15 questions with Harris and work on style and substance.”
Two sources familiar with Harris’ debate preparations said that since Thursday she’s been participating in extended mock debate sessions that are focused on specific subject matters, and that will continue through Monday. As of Friday morning, she had not done full a run-through of the 90-minute debate, sources said.
Part of what Harris has been preparing for is to try to create moments in which Trump might lash out as he has in the past, the sources familiar with her preparations said.
Two of them said the vice president also is planning to needle Trump if he doesn’t tell the truth or gets information mixed up, stumbles on his words or goes off on a tangent. Harris has never spoken with, or been face to face or side by side with Trump, though one person familiar with her debate preparations said she feels like she knows him given how much she has had to watch him and study him recently.
Part of her provocation strategy is to bring up Project 2025, a conservative governing agenda developed by the Heritage Foundation and at least two dozen Trump allies that the former president has tried to distance himself from, NBC News has reported.
Harris’ aides are adamant that if a moment occurs in which Trump speaks derogatorily of her, Americans should see and hear it. That is partly why Harris’ aides continue to urge the debate host network, ABC News, to open the candidates’ microphones whenever there is over-talk or exchange between them. Currently the debate rules are that the candidates’ microphones will only be live for the candidate whose turn it is to speak and muted when the time belongs to the other.
When it is her turn to speak, the sources familiar with her debate preparations said Harris plans to try showcase her experience in elected office and as a prosecutor to make the case that she’s qualified for the job of president. And she’s planning to stress her middle-class background, particularly her mother’s work ethic and efforts to save to buy their family home — details her aides hope draw a contrast with Trump’s background as the child of a wealthy real estate developer, the sources said.
Harris intends to show some daylight between her domestic or economic policies if elected and those that Biden has advocated for, sources familiar with her preparations said. But she will not differ from Biden on foreign policy, they said, adhering to the axiom that there is only one president at a time when it comes to those issues.
Choosing a key battleground state for multiple days of debate preparations has some added value for Harris, the sources said, and it mirrors what previous presidential nominees have done — from George W. Bush preparing for a 2000 debate in Florida to Barack Obama doing the same in Nevada in 2012.
Harris also is likely to make some unannounced political stops while there, the sources familiar with her preparations said. And her team hopes that just by being there she’ll get some additional media coverage in an important market.
They said her plan is to remain in Pittsburgh until Tuesday, when she’ll travel directly to Philadelphia for the debate.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
