Trump huddles with Tulsi Gabbard ahead of debate with Harris

Former President Trump has met with former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) in recent days, huddling with the one-time presidential candidate who shared a debate stage with Vice President Harris in 2019.

A Trump campaign spokesperson confirmed the former president has spoken with Gabbard, though they dismissed the idea Trump was engaging in traditional debate preparations ahead of his Sept. 10 showdown with Harris.

“President Trump has proven to be one of the best debaters in political history as evidenced by his knockout blow to Joe Biden,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “He does not need traditional debate prep but will continue to meet with respected policy advisors and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage.”

The New York Times first reported on Trump’s conversations with Gabbard.

Arguably Gabbard’s most notable moment of her unsuccessful 2020 White House bid was when she attacked Harris on the debate stage over her record as a prosecutor.

Gabbard, who has since left the Democratic Party and appears regularly on Fox News, chastised Harris during the July 2019 primary debate for putting more than 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and accused her of initially blocking evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row.

“There is no excuse for that and the people who suffered under your reign as prosecutor, you owe them an apology,” Gabbard said, in what proved to be a damaging moment for Harris’s campaign.

Harris initially dismissed Gabbard’s criticism, saying candidates should be judged “when they’re in the position to actually make a decision, what do they do.”

At a subsequent debate, Harris lambasted Gabbard for attacking former President Obama while he was in office, for refusing to call Syria’s Bashar al-Assad a “war criminal” and for fostering ties with Trump allies.

Trump and Harris are scheduled to face off on Sept. 10 in a presidential debate hosted by ABC News. Trump debated Biden in late June, and the president came under intense pressure to end his candidacy after his disastrous performance in that event.

Prior to his debate with Biden, Trump held meetings with lawmakers and allies to go over topics like immigration, inflation and foreign policy.

Trump met with Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), who he later chose as his running mate, as well as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), among others.