ハリス氏「トランプ時代は終わり」 出馬後初インタビュー

【サバン（米国）ＡＦＰ＝時事】米大統領選の民主党候補カマラ・ハリス副大統領（５９）は２９日、出馬表明後、初めてのインタビューに応じた。（写真は、米南部ジョージア州サバンナでの集会で、演説する民主党のカマラ・ハリス副大統領）
　ハリス氏は大統領選の七つの激戦州の一つ、ジョージア州を遊説するバスツアーの最中、民主党の副大統領候補ティム・ウォルズミネソタ州知事（６０）と共に米ＣＮＮによるインタビューに臨んだ。
　女性として、またアフリカ系および南アジア系として初めて米国の副大統領を務めてきたハリス氏は、１１月の大統領選で対決する共和党のドナルド・トランプ前大統領について、「米国人としてのわれわれの品格や強さを傷つけ、真に国を分断している」と批判。「国民はそうしたページをめくる準備ができている。新しい道を進む準備ができている」と語った。
　トランプ氏はハリス氏のことを「史上最大の変節者」と呼んで批判しているが、ハリス氏は「私の価値観は変わっていない」と反論。特に右派がメッセージの核心としている「移民に甘すぎる」という批判について、大統領として厳格な法律に署名する意志を示した。
　また大統領候補指名受諾演説で実現を誓ったガザ紛争の停戦については、イスラエルへの武器供給を含む現政権の政策を堅持するとしつつ、「われわれは停戦合意を成立させなければならない」と改めて明言。イスラエルへの支持は「揺るぎない」が、「あまりに多くの無実のパレスチナ人が殺されている」と述べた。
　ハリス氏はまた大統領選で勝利した場合には、共和党からも要職に起用すると述べた。
　ハリス氏は２０２１年に移民に関するインタビューで広く批判されて以来、メディア対応に慎重だが、今回のインタビューでは安定した受け答えに終始した。ただし、現在は支持率の急上昇と記録的な資金調達額によって順調に選挙運動を進めているが、政策の多くを曖昧にしていると指摘する声も上がっている。
　ハリス氏のインタビューについてトランプ氏はＳＮＳに「退屈だ！！！」と投稿。また２９日のミシガン州での選挙集会で、ハリス氏の移民政策の変化を批判し、「彼女は（副大統領としての）３年半の間、どこにいたのか？」と攻撃した。
　両氏は来月１０日、東部激戦州ペンシルベニア州フィラデルフィアで行われる大統領候補者討論会で初対決する。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/30-19:23）

Kamala Harris declared Thursday that Americans are ready to turn the page on Donald Trump as she reached out to centrist voters in her first interview since her dramatic entry into November's presidential election.
The 59-year-old Democrat insisted on CNN that she would be tough on illegal immigration and support controversial oil and gas fracking -- while sticking to her liberal background by pledging a fairer economy.
I am the best person to do this job, Harris said in a joint interview with her running mate Tim Walz while on the campaign trail in the swing state of Georgia.
The first female and Black and South Asian vice president described Trump as diminishing the character and the strength of who we are as Americans, really dividing our nation.
I think people are ready to turn the page on that, she said. People are ready for a new way forward.
The Democrat also said that she would name a Republican to her cabinet if she wins, in another sign that she is reaching out to wavering middle-of-the-road voters.
Trump branded the interview BORING!!! in a post on social media.
The Republican former president called Harris the greatest flip-flopper as he addressed a rally in the swing state of Michigan, before mocking her appearance in the interview.
She didn't look like a leader to me, he said later.
Harris rejected criticism that she has shifted positions on politically sensitive issues including fracking, which she once opposed but now supports, and illegal migration over the Mexican border, where she has taken a harder line.
As president I will not ban fracking, she said -- clearly aiming to settle the controversy in fossil fuel-rich Pennsylvania, one of the vital battleground states in what both candidates admit will be a tight election.
Addressing criticism that she had been too soft on immigration -- a core part of Trump's right-wing message -- Harris said that as president she would sign tough legislation.
Her comments appeared designed to court centrist voters worried by immigration and fuel costs. But in a nod to her left-leaning supporters, she insisted that she had not fundamentally shifted.
My values have not changed, Harris said.
- 'Where has she been?' -
On another hot-button topic on the US political landscape, Harris urged a ceasefire in Gaza, but told CNN that she would not change President Joe Biden's policies for key US ally Israel, including deliveries of weaponry.
No, we have to get a deal done, she said, adding that she was unwavering in her support for Israel but that far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.
Harris meanwhile described for the first time how she was flipping pancakes and frying bacon with her family when Biden rang her on July 21 to say he was ending his White House bid.
He told me what he had decided to do. And I asked him, 'Are you sure?' And he said, 'Yes,' she said.
Republicans had criticized Harris for not giving any interviews since Biden abruptly dropped out, following mounting concerns over his health and age at 81.
She has enjoyed a honeymoon period with surging polls and record fundraising, but has also faced scrutiny for keeping many of her policies vague as she pulls her campaign together at record speed.
Harris has also been cautious with the media since a widely panned interview on migration in 2021, but she offered a measured performance on CNN on Thursday.
Harris gave the interview while on a campaign bus tour of Georgia, one of the seven battleground states that are expected to decide the November 5 election.
A number of polls out Thursday showed Harris ahead of Trump, if only marginally, with several of them finding increased support for Harris in battleground states.
Trump has himself been hitting the campaign trail hard in recent days, after a period where the 78-year-old former president appeared to struggle to find his footing against a new, younger, female candidate.
Speaking at the event in Potterville, Michigan on Thursday, Trump targeted Harris on her immigration policy shifts, saying: Where has she been for three and a half years?
Harris and Trump are set to face off in their pivotal first debate on September 10 in Philadelphia.