Vice President Kamala Harris has been poring over briefing books and workshops on policy issues while meeting with aides at a Pittsburgh hotel in preparation for her showdown with former President Donald Trump, multiple sources familiar with her preparations for Tuesday’s debate said.
Harris has been thinking of ways to weave her biography into her answers to introduce herself to Americans who may not know much about her upbringing or her career before she became vice president, the sources said. She has even strategized about potentially shaking Trump’s hand onstage, they said (the upshot: It will likely be a game-time decision).
But Harris is also bracing for some potential, unplanned and perhaps history-making moments, including the possibility that Trump will make disparaging comments about her, according to sources familiar with her preparations, some of whom have been directly involved.
“It’s not inconceivable that he mumbles ‘that b—-,'” one of the sources said. “That’s not an unreasonable assumption. You have to be prepared for anything.”
When asked for comment for this story, spokesman Steven Cheung said, “Why do they even think of that word being associated with her?”
According to the New York Times, two people heard Trump use the word in private conversation to describe Harris. Cheung denies this.
Harris, who arrived at a Pittsburgh hotel on Thursday for about five days of debate preparation, hasn’t participated in a debate in four years and has done few media interviews since announcing her candidacy. Trump, however, has been more adept at answering extemporaneous questions. Sources familiar with Harris’ debate preparations said her aides are working diligently to prepare her for Tuesday because they don’t want to underestimate Trump.
Those involved in the process include Harris’ close ally Minyon Moore, as well as the vice president’s national security adviser Phil Gordon and former domestic policy adviser Rohini Kosoglu, according to sources familiar with the preparations. They said former Hillary Clinton aide Philippe Reines, who plays Trump in the mock debates, has dressed up for the sessions in the former president’s trademark navy suit and red tie.
The intense emphasis on preparation stems in part from the belief among some Harris aides that Trump had delivered an above-average performance during his debate with President Joe Biden in June.
Still, one source familiar with Harris’ debate preparations expressed concern that Harris may have overprepared and risked an erratic, policy-driven execution similar to then-President Barack Obama’s infamous 2012 performance.
“My anxiety is just high because I’m afraid they’re going to overcook her,” the source said of Harris. “I’m hoping they’re just preparing for 15 questions with Harris and working on style and substance.”
Two sources familiar with Harris’ debate preparations said she has been participating in extended mock debate sessions focused on specific topics since Thursday and will continue through Monday. As of Friday morning, she had not yet sat through the 90-minute debate in its entirety, sources said.
According to sources familiar with her preparations, Harris is preparing, among other things, to create moments when Trump can go on a rampage as he has in the past.
Two of them said the vice president also plans to taunt Trump if he doesn’t tell the truth or mixes up information, stumbles over his words or digresses. Harris has never spoken to Trump, or been face-to-face or side-by-side with him, though one person familiar with her debate preparations said she feels as if she knows him, given how much she’s had to observe and study him lately.
Part of her provocation strategy is to bring up Project 2025, a conservative governing agenda developed by the Heritage Foundation and at least two dozen Trump allies that the former president has tried to distance himself from, NBC News reported.
Harris’ aides are adamant that if there is a moment when Trump disparages her, Americans need to see and hear it. That’s partly why Harris’ aides continue to urge debate network ABC News to open the candidates’ microphones when there is too much talking or switching between them. Currently, debate rules state that the candidates’ microphones are live only for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, and are muted when it’s the other candidate’s time.
When it’s her turn to speak, sources familiar with her debate preparations said Harris plans to showcase her experience in elected office and as a prosecutor to prove she’s qualified for the job of president. And she plans to emphasize her middle-class background, particularly her mother’s work ethic and her efforts to save to buy the family home — details her aides hope will contrast with Trump’s background as the child of a wealthy real estate developer, the sources said.
Harris plans to show some distance between her domestic or economic policies if elected and those Biden has advocated, sources familiar with her preparations said. But she will not differ from Biden on foreign policy, they said, and they are adhering to the axiom that there is only one president at a time when it comes to those issues.
Choosing a key state where debate preparations will take place over several days adds value for Harris, the sources said, and it mirrors what previous presidential candidates have done — from George W. Bush preparing for a debate in Florida in 2000 to Barack Obama doing the same in Nevada in 2012.
Harris is also likely to make a number of unannounced political stops there, sources familiar with her preparations said. And her team hopes that being there will give her some extra media exposure in a key market.
They said she plans to remain in Pittsburgh until Tuesday, when she will travel directly to Philadelphia for the debate.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
