Vice presidential hopeful Kamala Harris accused Donald Trump and Mike Pence of presiding over the ‘greatest failure’ of any presidency in US history.
Speaking at the vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah on Wednesday, the California Senator said: ‘The American people have witnessed the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country.’
Attacking Pence and Trump for their handling of the coronavirus outbreak, Harris continued: ‘Frontline workers treated like sacrificial workers, we are looking at 30 million people who in the last several months had to file for unemployment.’
Harris also hit out at Trump and Pence for playing down what they knew about Covid-19 in January, claiming they had cost American lives. She continued: ‘On January 28 the president and vice president were informed of the nature of this pandemic…they knew what was happening, and thet didn’t telly you.
‘Can you imagine if you knew on March 13 what they knew on January 28 what you might have done to prepare?’
Harris went on to tout her and Joe Biden’s ‘science-based’ approach to tackling coronavirus, having previously raised the prospect of forcing Americans to wear masks, and embarking on nationwide lockdowns. The pandemic has so far infected more than 7.54 millon Americans and killed over 211,000.
But Pence hit back, accusing Biden of stealing his Covid strategies from others.
He continued: ‘The difference is president trump and I trust the American people to make the best choices in the interests of their health. Senator Biden and Harris keep talking about mandates – lets respect the freedom of the American people.’
Wednesday’s debate, moderated by USA Today journalist Susan Page, was markedly calmer than last week’s verbal tussling between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, which resulted in both men trading a slew personal insults.
Pence and Harris debated each other just under three weeks before the November 3 presidential election.