Kamala Harris appeared to offer a preview of her upcoming presidential campaign in remarks to campaign staffers by referencing her experience as a courtroom attorney, telling supporters “I know Donald Trump’s type.”
The vice president said her days spent dealing with “predators… fraudsters..and cheaters” had equipped her for the fight against the former president, and the race to claim the White House in November.
Speaking at campaign headquarters on Monday, a day after being endorsed by Joe Biden as the new Democratic nominee, she acknowledged the rollercoaster of “mixed emotions” and her love of the president, following his momentous decision to end his reelection campaign.
“In the days and weeks ahead, I, together with you, will do everything in my power to unite our Democratic Party, to unite our nation and to win this election,” she said, to cheers from supporters.
“As many of you know, before I was elected as Vice President, before I was elected as United States Senator, I was the elected Attorney General of California. Before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. In those roles I took on perpetrators of all kinds.
“Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”
Her words suggest that one of the lines her campaign will follow in the lead up to the election on November 5 may play off Trump’s multiple lawsuits and criminal cases, several of which are ongoing.
The former president was convicted of 34 criminal counts of concealing hush money payments in May, earning him the official title of a convicted felon. Several cases against him are still pending.
This distinction was highlighted previously by Biden, after he introduced Harris as “vice president Trump” during a press conference earlier this month. Shortly after the gaffe, the president posted on X.
“By the way: Yes, I know the difference [between Harris and Trump],” he wrote. “One’s a prosecutor, and the other’s a felon.”
Elsewhere in her remarks on Monday, Harris acknowledged that in the time left until election day – some 106 days – there was “hard work to do.” “You are all here because we love our country… and we believe in our foundational principles,” she said.
“We believe in freedom and opportunity and justice, not for some, but for all. We have 106 days until Election Day, and in that time we have some hard work to do.
“And so over the next 106 days, we are going to take our case to the American people, and we are going to win.”