SCREENSHOT TAKEN BY ROBERT BENAVIDEZ DURING WEDNESDAY’S LIVESTREAM OF THE 2020 VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE VIA C-SPAN
Fernanda Figueroa | THE RIDER
Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) took the stage Wednesday night for the first and only vice presidential debate of the 2020 election.
The debate, which was held in Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake City, was divided into nine segments to discuss COVID-19, the role of the vice president, the economy, climate change, U.S. relations with China, the Supreme Court, health care, criminal justice and the integrity of the election, which were all chosen by moderator Susan Page, the Washington bureau chief for USA Today.
COVID-19 was at the forefront of the debate, with Page asking Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, what a Biden administration would do that has not been done by the Trump administration.
Harris quickly criticized the response of the Trump administration, calling it “the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country.”
“Can you imagine if you knew on January 28th, as opposed to March 13th , what they knew, what you might have done to prepare?” she said. “They knew, and they covered it up. The president said it was a hoax. They minimized the seriousness of it.”
Harris continued to criticize the lack of a plan from the Trump administration, stating, “We need to save our country, and [former Vice President] Joe Biden is the best leader to do that.”
Asked about the U.S. death toll compared to other wealthy countries, Pence responded by praising President Donald J. Trump for his decision to ban all travel from China, which helped save hundreds of thousands of lives, reinvent testing and deliver supplies to medical personnel.
“I want the American people to know that from the first day, President Donald Trump has put the health of America first,” he said. “Before there were more than five cases in the United States, all people who had returned from China, President Donald Trump did what no other American president had ever done. And that was, he suspended all travel from China, the second-largest economy in the world.”
Pence and Harris were both asked about the lack of transparency in regard to health information from Trump and Biden.
While Pence said that “the American people have a right to know about the health and well-being of their president and will continue to do that,” Harris criticized Trump’s lack of transparency, especially regarding his taxes.
“Joe Biden has been incredibly transparent and certainly by contrast that the president has not, both in terms of health records, but also let’s look at taxes,” she said. “We now know Donald Trump owes and is in debt for $400 million. And it’d be really good to know who the president of the United States, the commander in chief, owes money to, because the American people have a right to know what is influencing the president’s decisions.”
Switching to talk about the economy, Harris argued that the Biden administration would focus on helping the American people “as opposed to passing a tax bill, which had the benefit of letting American corporations go offshore to do their business,” and assured that Biden would not raise taxes for anyone who makes less than $400,000 a year.
On the other side, Pence applauded how Trump has cut taxes, rolled back on regulation, unleashed American energy, fought for free and fair trade, secured $4 trillion to give to families and saved 50 million jobs.
“Right after a time where we’re going through a pandemic that lost 22 million jobs at the height, we’ve already added back 116 million jobs,” he said. “We literally have spared no expense to help the American people and the American worker through this.”
To end the debate, both candidates were presented a question from Brecklin Brown, an eighth-grader at Springville Junior High, which is located in Utah County, Utah, as to how citizens are expected to get along if our leaders cannot.
Pence responded: “Here in America, we can disagree. We can debate vigorously, but when the debate is over, we come together as Americans. We always come together and we are always there for one another in times of need.”
Harris replied: “When you think about the future, I do believe the future is bright. And it will be because of your leadership, and it will be because we fight for each person’s voice through their vote. And we get engaged in this election, because you have the ability through your work and through, eventually, your vote to determine the future of our country and what its leadership looks like.”
The next presidential debate will be held virtually on Oct. 15, with the candidates participating from different locations.
Steve Scully of C-SPAN Network will moderate the debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami.
However, in a phone interview with FOX Business Thursday morning, Trump said, “No, I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate.”
The final presidential debate will be Oct. 22 at Belmont University in Nashville and will be moderated by Kristen Welker of NBC News.
