A CNN host got into a testy exchange about Donald Trump‘s policies with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday.
Kate Bolduan and Ramaswamy sparred, at times with raised voices, while comparing the political agendas of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The former GOP candidate, who has turned into a devout surrogate for Trump’s campaign since dropping his own bid for the White House, tried to clarify some of the former president’s positions as Bolduan accused him of flip-flopping.
Then Ramaswamy tore into Kamala Harris’s record of policy changes.
Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy sparred with CNN host Kate Bolduan on Wednesday morning over Donald Trump’s policies
‘To use Kamala Harris’s own words against her, as I believe we should, she ran for president favoring a tax on unrealized capital gains, favoring an abolition — her words — to abolish private health insurance, a ban on fracking, bans on offshore drilling,’ Ramaswamy said.
‘These are the kinds of policies that absolutely are not mainstream for most Americans,’ he continued. ‘And this is where I do think the debate will be useful.’
He also urged ‘greater media scrutiny’ of Harris, saying she needs to do more sit-down interviews.
An unamused looking Bolduan then sought to clarify how Harris has changed her mind on policies she previously supported, like banning private health insurance and fracking.
‘Those are not her positions,’ Bolduan interjected.
Ramaswamy slammed Kamala Harris for previously proposing a ban on private health insurance
The former GOP candidate has also been a popular surrogate for the former president
‘Vivek, but on banning private health insurance, [Harris] has said she does not believe that, and she does not believe that now,’ the host contended.
‘On banning fracking, she has made clear … that she does not support that anymore.’
Referencing a past CNN interview Harris did, the TV host mentioned how the vice president explained her change of heart.
‘I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,’ Harris said last week.
In 2019 during Harris’s first bid for the White House, she told voters during a town hall, ‘There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking, and starting with what we can do on day one around public lands.’
During the interview Wednesday, the two often spoke over each other during the exchange, trying to interject their point as the other began to speak.
‘If evolving on an issue, if evolving on a position — you can even call it flip-flopping on an issue — if that is now not allowed, if that should be, you know, the death knell to a campaign,’ Bolduan added. ‘Donald Trump’s got issues there.’
Donald Trump said he had decided how he will vote in Florida’s upcoming referendum on its newly enacted six-week abortion ban. ‘I think six weeks is a mistake,’ he said. ‘And I’ll be expressing that soon, but I want more than six weeks’
The Trump Campaign issued a statement clarifying his position
She specifically noted Trump’s recent flip-flop on Florida’s abortion ban after six-weeks.
Trump previously said in an interview with DailyMail.com, ‘I think it should be more than six weeks.’
The next day the former president indicated he would vote against the Florida measure to expand abortion care.
The Trump campaign seemingly issued a statement on the initiative as a result of the DailyMail.com report.
Ramaswamy then tried to explain the former president’s position, saying the ballot measure was crafted in a ‘vague’ way.
