Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday accused former President Donald Trump of “flip-flopping” on abortion, about two months before the election, as Republicans continue to attack Vice President Kamala Harris over her policy changes.
In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” Schiff was asked to explain his thoughts on Harris’ retraction of her position on the method of extracting natural gas known as fracking.
When Harris was running for president in 2019, she said she supported banning fracking, but she has since changed her mind and says she would not ban it if she won in November.
Schiff defended Harris, saying the vice president has proven her commitment to combating climate change, including by working to pass the Inflation Reduction Act.
Schiff added that he still supports a ban on fracking, but “I’m not the vice president of the United States.”
“And I think when you represent the entire country, you have a different perspective,” he said.
Schiff then turned to Trump, saying that Harris had changed her position on fracking four years ago, but that Trump “had changed his position on abortion four times in the last 48 hours.”
“That to me is a much more important question, especially when you’re talking about abortion and you’re talking about a right and a freedom of the American people to be so cajoling, so wishy-washy, so flip-flopping and so disrespectful to the rights and freedoms of millions of American women, and to do it all in one day,” Schiff said. “That’s the contrast here.”
Schiff added that Trump’s changing stance on abortion indicates he “has no values.”
Trump suggested Thursday that he would vote in November for an amendment in Florida that would change the state constitution to allow abortions up until the fetus is viable, which is normally around 24 weeks. Since May, the state has banned the medical procedure after six weeks, with some exceptions.
Trump’s campaign, however, almost immediately distanced itself from his comments, saying the candidate had not yet revealed how he would vote on the issue. On Friday, the GOP presidential nominee announced he would vote against the measure, making baseless claims that Democratic-led states’ laws allow for the murder of newborn babies.
“Some states like Minnesota and other states have it where you can execute the baby after it’s born, and all that stuff is unacceptable,” Trump said. “So I’m voting no for that reason.”
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, attacked Schiff for his criticism of the former president, calling the California Democrat “one of the most despicable and abhorrent elected officials in Congress” in a statement shared with The Hill.
“This is just another disgusting gaslighting by a disgusting person who has no decency and no character to actually be president,” Cheung said.
As Trump continues to shift his positions on a range of issues, ranging from abortion to whether the popular social media platform TikTok should be banned in the US, Republicans have attacked Harris for her shift in policy, claiming she is a “dangerously liberal” candidate.
