WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged on Saturday that she is rising to defeat Donald Trump in November, but said her newly minted presidential campaign will prevail over the “wild lies” of her Republican rival.
When Trump spoke at a bitcoin conference in Tennessee, Harris spoke at a fundraising event in Massachusetts with celebrity guests including singer-songwriter James Taylor and cellist Yoyo Ma.
“We’re the underdogs in this race, but this is a people-driven campaign,” she told the crowd at the event, which her campaign said will raise $1.4 million.
“Donald Trump has resorted to some wild lies about my record. And some of what he and his running mate are saying, well, it’s just weird,” she said.
The Harris campaign adopted “weird” as the new catchall to describe Trump’s aggressive rhetoric.
His attacks include accusations that Harris wants to legalize the killing of newborns — a falsehood stemming from the vice president’s fervent support for abortion rights.
Harris has made her advocacy on the issue a centerpiece of her campaign against Trump, whose conservative Supreme Court nominees helped overturn the nation’s due process law in 2022.
The former California prosecutor also challenged Trump to the debate after his campaign said this week it would not agree to televise a previously scheduled face-off with Biden on Sept. 10.
“I hope he changes his mind because we have a lot to talk about,” she said.
Trump, 78, is now the oldest major party nominee in history and is trying to swing the election against someone two decades younger as he expected to face 81-year-old incumbent Joe Biden, who has been plagued by disability concerns.
On Saturday, he presented his opinion on the cryptocurrency industry, which he previously called a “fraud.”
With China or others rumored to be taking the reins in the fast-growing field, Trump’s recall is being welcomed by crypto enthusiasts who feel they have been roughed up by the Biden administration.
“This is the steel industry of 100 years ago,” Trump said at a bitcoin conference. “I think you are only in your infancy.
“If cryptocurrency is going to define the future, I want it to be mined, minted and manufactured in the US,” he said to cheers, calling for the United States to be the “crypto capital of the planet.”
Trump also vowed on Saturday to return to outdoor rallies two weeks after he was wounded in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
“I’m going to continue the outdoor rallies and the Secret Service has agreed to substantially increase their operations. They are very capable of that,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“No one can ever be allowed to stop or impede freedom of expression or assembly,” he added.
Trump made the shooting a key part of his campaign, telling supporters he “fired a bullet for democracy.”
He and fellow runner J.D. Vance will hold a rally Saturday night at an indoor hockey arena in the midwestern state of Minnesota.
Harris, who is seeking to become the first female president in US history, is tasked with quickly building a campaign against an opponent who has been in near-constant re-election mode since becoming president in 2016.
Her late-start White House bid saw an early boom. Polls that have shown Biden steadily sliding against Trump now show Harris in the race too close to call him.
She has received support from Democratic heavyweights, including Biden himself and, most recently, Barack and Michelle Obama.
Torianna Parrish, 34, was among the crowd that greeted Harris upon her arrival Saturday afternoon at the airport in Westfield, Massachusetts.
“I wanted to show that there is strength in numbers. I wanted to show my support,” she said.
“We’re rooting for her and we want her to make this country what it needs to be.” Harris was introduced at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield by Taylor, who said, “Let’s honor the woman and the moment and our fervent support is the wind in her sails. Our hopes go with her and she stands for all of us.”
