Former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on Thursday called Vice President Kamala Harris an "empty suit," accusing the Democratic nominee of saying whatever is needed to win over voters without following through with action.
"Kamala Harris is an empty suit," Gabbard said on Fox News. "Her campaign handlers are worried. ... They are trying to create this new version of Kamala Harris to match what their pollsters are telling them, so she can say whatever she needs to say to try to win over voters, which is the most offensive thing, I think, because they think we're so stupid as to forget what her record actually is."
Gabbard’s remarks come as Harris faces growing pressure from voters to enunciate her policy vision. CNN host Fareed Zakaria noted recently that the Harris campaign is "heavy on vibes" and "seems deliberately light on substance."
"Voters choose from the gut and then rationalize their choice, consciously or not. Kamala Harris’s campaign seems premised on this latter, intuition-based approach," Zakaria wrote in a Saturday op-ed, noting that "Harris has not yet given extensive interviews or done news conferences which would force her to detail her positions on specific issues."
Gabbard, a former Democrat from Hawaii turned Independent, ran against Harris in the 2020 Democratic primary before both dropped out in 2019. Gabbard, in her interview Thursday, warned of Harris's past record of hypocrisy.
"We have to pay attention to [Harris’s] actions because on every single major issue, you will see that same kind of hypocrisy that I pointed out in 2019 where she’ll say one thing, but her record tells a very, very different story," Gabbard said.
During a Democratic presidential debate in 2019, Gabbard pointed to Harris's history of preaching one thing while practicing another. "Senator Harris says she’s proud of her record as a prosecutor," Gabbard said at the time. "But she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations, and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana."
Harris neither denied nor confirmed Gabbard’s claims, simply saying that she was "proud of that work."
Harris is slated to offer the first key insight into her policy platform during her economy-focused speech this Friday, with her campaign saying she will propose a first ever federal ban on food and grocery price gouging. The proposal would help Harris shift the blame for persistently high prices under the Biden-Harris administration on major corporations.
"The key thing here for voters as we head into this election is Kamala Harris will say whatever she thinks she needs to say," Gabbard said.