Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he was eager to debate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), who was selected this week to be Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate, because he looks forward to exposing the “radical Left” agenda that she supports.
“Joe Biden’s decision to add Kamala Harris to the ticket confirms everything President Trump and I have been saying,” Pence said. “And that is that Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have been overtaken by the radical Left.”
“Kamala Harris, like Joe Biden, supports higher taxes, socialized medicine, open borders, abortion on demand. And where Joe Biden said he would be willing to cut funding to police, she said recently that she thought that we should reimagine the police in this country,” Pence continued. “And I just have to tell you, I like the matchup. You know, it’s on, Sean. I can’t wait to get back out there. I will be in Iowa tomorrow telling the story of what this president has done, how we made this country stronger, more prosperous in our first three years, how President Trump has seen us through the worst pandemic in 100 years, and how we have already created more jobs in the last three months than Joe Biden and Barack Obama created in their eight years in office.”
“I think she is a skilled debater,” Pence later added. “But I can’t wait to get to Salt Lake City and be on the stage with her to compare Joe Biden’s nearly 50 years in public life, the agenda of the radical Left, the agenda that she’s embraced throughout her political career, with the results of this president and this administration.”
“I mean, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris come from a party that’s been talking about helping African Americans for decades. This is a president who, because of the policies we advanced, we actually saw the lowest unemployment ever recorded for African Americans,” Pence added. “We saw the creation of thousands of Opportunity Zones, creating billions of dollars of investment in our inner cities. This is a president who doubled the school choice program here in our nation’s capital, has been fighting for educational opportunities for every American, especially our minority communities.”
“And that’s a record that I’m excited to talk about,” Pence concluded on the subject. “This is a president who’s been out there fighting for the American dream for every American, regardless of race or creed or color.”
WATCH:
TRANSCRIPT:
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Here with reaction, the man himself, Vice President of the United States Mike Pence.
Mr. Vice President, thank you for being with us.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good to be with you, Sean.
HANNITY: OK.
Well, I can imagine that you got a little bit different treatment than Kamala Harris.
(LAUGHTER)
But let’s stick to substance and the issues here. I think that’s important.
I argue this will be the biggest-choice election, tipping-point election even, in history. Your initial reaction?
PENCE: Well, the stakes in this election have never been higher.
But following Joe Biden’s decision to name a California liberal like Kamala Harris to the ticket, the choice has never been clearer.
Look, four years ago, when President Trump called and asked me to join this ticket, I said yes in a heartbeat because I believed in his vision, to rebuild our military, to revive our economy by cutting taxes, rolling back regulation, fighting for free, fair trade, unleashing American energy, standing up for life and liberty, and appointing conservatives to our courts, and standing with law enforcement at every level.
And Joe Biden’s decision to add Kamala Harris to the ticket confirms everything President Trump and I have been saying, and that is that Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have been overtaken by the radical Left.
Kamala Harris, like Joe Biden, supports higher taxes, socialized medicine, open borders, abortion on demand. And where Joe Biden said he’d be willing to cut funding to police, she said recently that she thought that we should reimagine the police in this country.
And I just have to tell you, you know, I like the matchup. You know, it’s on, Sean. I can’t wait to get back out there. I’ll be in Iowa tomorrow telling the story of what this president has done, how we made this country stronger, more prosperous in our first three years, how President Trump has seen us through the worst pandemic in 100 years, and how we’ve already created more jobs in the last three months than Joe Biden and Barack Obama created in their eight years in office.
I’m excited to tell the story. I think Kamala Harris being added to the ticket just confirms what President Trump and I have been saying all along.
HANNITY: You know, Mr. Vice President, four years ago … I’m now 33 years in radio, if you can believe it. I know I look so much younger, my 25th year at FOX.
(LAUGHTER)
And, you know, I said to this audience – and I have to always be honest – I said Donald Trump, I’ve known him for about 25 years now. I said, he will govern as a conservative.
Every issue you just mentioned is – it is transformational in as much as he kept every promise, every single one of them.
PENCE: He did.
HANNITY: There’s not one thing he said that he wanted to get done that really has not gotten done.
PENCE: Right.
HANNITY: And I look at it, and then I look at the results. And results matter to me.
I can’t think of a single accomplishment of Joe Biden in 50 years of the swamp that helped benefit the American people. Can you?
And I know Kamala Harris is gonna be out there attacking the president daily. If I was him, I would ignore every word she says, and focus on what he’s done and what he plans to do.
PENCE: Well, I think it’s the reason why you see the support all across the country that you see for this president and for our administration.
And that’s that President Trump has done exactly what he told the American people he would do. We rebuilt our military, restored the arsenal of democracy, and now, America’s military is stronger than ever before.
But this president, by cutting taxes, by rolling back more regulations than any president in American history, by fighting for the kind of free and fair trade like the USMCA that was a win for American manufacturing, a win for American farmers, a trade deal that Kamala Harris was one of only ten members of the Senate to vote against, and you see his commitment to follow through on appointing conservatives to our courts at every level.
Contrast that with now Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They actually want to raise taxes by $4 trillion. They want to do their own version of the Green New Deal, of a $2 trillion massive environmental agenda. They’re gonna appoint activists to our court. They’re gonna support taxpayer funding of abortion.
They support open borders. And the truth of the matter is, beyond all of that, with everything that’s happening in Chicago and New York and Portland and Seattle, you have in President Trump a leader who is standing without apology with the men and women of law enforcement.
And in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party and the radical Left, you have people talking about cutting funding to law enforcement, a party that’s advocating defunding law enforcement. The choice could not be clearer.
And, as I said, I can’t wait to get out there, get out there and tell that story. And I think the American people are gonna vote for four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House.
HANNITY: Mr. Vice President, I think I’m a pretty good political observer.
And if you noticed the debate when Kamala Harris went after Joe Biden on his racial positions, which are – [you know], imagine if Donald Trump supported the guy that filibustered the Civil Rights Act and talked about not wanting his kids to be involved in integration or “a racial jungle,” I could imagine the media would have a very different reaction to Joe Biden.
And, as I look at this scene – it’s actually on the screen right now – she, to me – and you will be debating her – it looked to me that that line was prepared, that line was memorized, and that line was delivered, somewhat perfectly, pretty devastating to Joe Biden, although she feels very differently now, apparently.
Did you get the same feeling I did, that that was all prepared ahead of time?
PENCE: Well, look, I think – you know, I think she is a skilled debater.
But I can’t wait to get to Salt Lake City and be on the stage with her to compare Joe Biden’s nearly 50 years in public life, the agenda of the radical Left, the agenda that she’s embraced throughout her political career, with the results of this president and this administration.
I mean, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris come from a party that’s been talking about helping African Americans for decades. This is a president who, because of the policies we advanced, we actually saw the lowest unemployment ever recorded for African Americans.
We saw the creation of thousands of Opportunity Zones, creating billions of dollars of investment in our inner cities. This is a president who doubled the school choice program here in our nation’s capital, has been fighting for educational opportunities for every American, especially our minority communities.
And that’s a record that I’m excited to talk about. This is a president who’s been out there fighting for the American dream for every American, regardless of race or creed or color.
HANNITY: I –
PENCE: And while the other side does the talking, we’re gonna talk about what we’ve done for the American people and what we’re gonna do with four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House.
HANNITY: I would like to – you know, I would like to not have one vote cast until at least one debate between the president and Joe Biden.
Joe Biden says he can’t wait, says he wants to do it.
PENCE: Right.
HANNITY: The president has offered to have one. Sixteen states will be voting before – early voting before the first debate.
I think that has to change. Do you agree?
PENCE: Oh, there’s no question. And I know the campaign is reaching out, look, particularly in the times in which we live, as we continue every day to work to put the coronavirus in the past, we are seeing positive trends across the Sunbelt. We are seeing leveling trends in other states around the country. We’re every day one day closer to having more medicines and more vaccines.
To your point, Sean, we’re gonna be seeing states around the country start early voting in a matter of a month or so. And I think the American people ought to hear from this president and hear from Joe Biden on the stage to talk about their competing visions for this country –
HANNITY: Yes.
PENCE: – because they could not be more different.
I mean, I truly do believe that President Trump’s vision in our first three years was proven out. I mean, we made America more prosperous than ever before. This president and his policies, with our allies in Congress, created the conditions, the most prosperous economy in the history of the world.
And when the coronavirus pandemic struck, it’s that solid foundation that President Trump poured that’s allowed us to add nine million jobs back as we open up this economy just in the last three months alone.
HANNITY: Yes.
PENCE: And, again, Joe Biden – I mean, when people go into the voting booth on November 3, or when they participate in early voting before then, they deserve to know that here, as our country is coming back from this massive pandemic that, at its height, cost 22 million American jobs, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, their prescription –
HANNITY: Yes.
PENCE: – is to raise taxes by $4 trillion and impose an avalanche of regulations, like the Green New Deal, on the American economy.
HANNITY: Scary.
PENCE: And, you know – but it’s no real surprise.
It’s what Joe Biden and Barack Obama did in their eight years. They tried to tax and spend and regulate us into prosperity. And they oversaw the slowest economic recovery since the Great Depression.
I want to say it again, Sean.
HANNITY: Yes.
PENCE: It’s remarkable that, because of the foundation President Trump poured, we have actually seen this economy create more jobs in the last three months than Joe Biden and the last administration created in their entire eight years.
HANNITY: Yes.
PENCE: The American people deserve to understand those two competing visions, and when they do, I believe they’re gonna vote to reelect President Donald Trump.
HANNITY: Mr. Vice President, we always thank you for your time. Thank you for being with us.
PENCE: Thank you, Sean.