VP Harris blames GOP ‘election deniers’ for making US democracy 'weaker' through 'threats from within'

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Vice President Kamala Harris, in a new interview, ripped Republican "election deniers" ahead of November’s midterm elections for harming the United States’ reputation for upholding "democratic principles" and the "rule of law" on the world stage on the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 

During an interview pre-filmed in Houston, Texas, and aired Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press," host Chuck Todd asked the vice president if the threats the U.S. faced after 9/11 are equal or greater than the so-called threats the country now faces "from within." 

Harris, who formerly served on the Senate intelligence committee, said the nature of a foreign versus domestic threat is "very different," though "each are dangerous." 

On the committee, she said she worked with fellow Democrats, Republicans and Independents, who were "Americans first, focused on the threats to our national security, on common ground with a common purpose, which is to defend our nation against attacks." 

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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg at the ceremony to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, in New York.  (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

 "When I think about what we’ve been seeing as far as the attacks from within, I wish that we would approach it the same way instead of through some partisan lens," Harris said. "I think that it is a threat, and I think that it is very dangerous, and it makes us weaker." 

Harris said she has met with more than 100 foreign heads of state, and in those rooms, the United States represents the importance of democratic principles, rule of law and human rights. 

"The rest of the world — like to any role model — watches what we do to see if it matches up with what we say," Harris said. "So, we look at the fact that there are 11 people right now running for Secretary of State — the keepers of the integrity of the voting system in their state — who are election deniers."

"You couple that with people who hold some of the highest elected offices in our country who refuse to condemn an insurrection on Jan. 6," she added. "And I think what it sends is a signal that causes people to question, ‘Hey is America still valuing what they talk about?’ which is the integrity of democracies which means protecting rule of law and the sanctity of these systems. And speaking up when they are attacked."  

New York City mayor Eric Adams, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York Governor Kathy Hochul stand for the national anthem at the ceremony to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York.  (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

"What is a semi-fascist?" Todd asked later in the interview, referring to Biden's latest anti-GOP moniker.  

"Listen … let’s not get caught up in politicizing the fact that most people in American know that it is not helpful to our country when we have people who are denying elections or trying to obstruct the outcome of an election where the largest number of people in our country voted for the President of the United States," Harris said. "When we look at where we are, we have to admit that there are attacks from within – to your first question – and we need to take it seriously, and we need to stand up together, all of us, and think of it not through a partisan lens, but as Americans." 

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the National Baptist Convention on September 08, 2022, in Houston, Texas.  (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Todd quoted Biden’s inaugural address, repeating, "Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path," before recognizing the president’s recent remarks on "semi-fascism." 

"Joe Biden has spent his entire career — it is on for all to see — working across the aisle … sometimes he’s been criticized for believing in bipartisanship, for believing in compromise," Harris said. "But there are moments in time when we have to also agree, all good people who care about our country, that there are those who right now are vividly not defending our democracy. And I think we want our commander-in-chief, that the President of the United States will speak up and sound the alarm to what this means to our strength and our future, much less our integrity." 

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Refusing to comment on how individual Democratic candidates are running their campaigns in some races across the country, Harris stressed that in less than two months, during the November midterms, the "issue of choice" is on the ballot after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.