The Trump campaign vehemently rejected a media narrative suggesting that Vice President Kamala Harris is adopting a more favorable stance toward border wall construction, labeling the claim as “preposterous.”
“How much longer will the mainstream media allow Kamala Harris to hide and use staff to speak on her behalf?” asked Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for the Trump campaign, in a statement. “It’s DAY 37 of ZERO interviews, and Kamala’s anonymous campaign sources are now claiming she supports President Trump’s border wall — this is a preposterous and false claim.”
The controversy arose after Axios published a headline on Tuesday morning accusing Harris of a “flip-flop” regarding the border wall, noting her support for a bipartisan border security bill introduced in January. This bill aims to increase funding for border security and set limits on asylum entries.
The bill, supported by the Biden administration but lacking sufficient Republican support to pass, includes a small amount of funding for additional border wall construction. However, this funding is only a fraction of the $25 billion sought by former President Trump for the project.
Despite the bill’s limited support for wall construction, Harris, alongside President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, has consistently backed the bill. Axios interpreted Harris’ recent speech at the Democratic National Convention, where she pledged to sign the bill into law, as a sign of a more hawkish immigration policy.
In her speech, Harris stated, “Last year, Joe and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades. The Border Patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal. Well, I refuse to play politics with our security, and here is my pledge to you: As president, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that he killed, and I will sign it into law.”
New advertisements from the Harris campaign depict the former California senator as tough on border security, using images of the Trump-era border wall.
However, the Trump campaign highlighted Harris’ previous opposition to the border wall. While the Biden-Harris administration did complete some limited construction due to already appropriated funds, it has consistently opposed additional wall construction and has not indicated any plans for significant new construction.
Harris has been a vocal critic of the wall built during the Trump administration, calling it “un-American” in 2018 and describing it as a “complete waste of taxpayer money” in 2020. She also dismissed the wall’s effectiveness during her 2019 campaign launch.
The Trump campaign also attempted to tie Harris to the decision to halt border wall construction in her role as “border czar,” although her responsibilities in this role were limited to international diplomacy addressing the root causes of migration.
“As Border Czar, Kamala Harris halted construction of the border wall. Kamala’s ACTIONS speak much louder than the WORDS of the anonymous staff she is cowering behind,” Leavitt stated.
Trump senior adviser Jason Miller described the media report as “total bulls—” and asserted that Harris “hasn’t flip-flopped on anything,” adding, “Harris opposes the wall, has always opposed the wall and stopped wall construction as VP.”
For the original Fox News article, see Adam Shaw and Paul Steinhauser’s report: ‘Total bulls—‘: Trump campaign rips ‘preposterous’ Harris pro-border wall narrative after media report.