Vice President Kamala Harris addressed new reports of Donald Trump‘s relationship with Vladimir Putin during her appearance on Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
In journalist Bob Woodward’s new book, released Tuesday, an unnamed aide reported that Trump has spoken with Putin as many as seven times since leaving the White House. Other claims included information about Trump sending Putin COVID tests while he was in office, at the height of the pandemic.
Harris acknowledged on Tuesday that she hasn’t read the book yet, but said, “Donald Trump — he openly admires dictators and authoritarians. He has said he wants to be a dictator on Day One, if he were elected again as president. He gets played by these guys. He admires so-called strongmen and he gets played because they flatter him or offer him favor.”
She also addressed the COVID tests reports directly. “I ask everyone here and everyone who is watching: Do you remember what those days were like? You remember how many people did not have tests and were trying to scramble to get them?”
She became angry as she continued speaking about her opponent’s connection to Russia, saying. “The commander-in-chief of the United States of America must stand strong and defend the principles that we hold dear. We should stand with our allies. We should strengthen the alliances that we have, such as NATO, which is the strongest military alliance the world has ever seen. We must stand with our friend Ukraine where Russia is attempting to change borders by force.”
Harris added, “And this man is giving Covid test kits to Vladimir Putin? Think about what this means on top of him sending love letters to Kim Jong Un…He thinks, well, that’s his friend. What about the American people? They should be your first friend.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Colbert asked the Democratic nominee about Hurricane Helene, which recently ravaged North Carolina, and Hurricane Milton, a severe storm headed for Florida. Harris urged people to listen to local officials and criticized politicians who “tell lies” for political gain.
“It’s crude,” she said. “Have you no empathy, man, for the suffering of other people? Have you have no sense of purpose if you purport to be a leader?”
Regarding the Israel-Hamas war, Harris addressed her statement that she and President Biden are close to a ceasefire deal. “Close means that a lot of the details have been worked out but details remain,” she said. “And so there has been some progress but it is meaningless unless a deal is actually reached, so I don’t want to suggest to you that we should be applauded for getting close at times to a deal.”
The VP also spoke about her debate performance, and weighed in on the viral picture of herself with her chin resting in her hand. When Colbert asked her what she was thinking in that moment, she replied, “It’s family TV, right? It starts with a W, there’s a letter between it, then the last letter’s F.”
Together with the late night host, Harris also opened a can of Miller High Life and said, “The last time I had beer was at a baseball game with Doug [Emhoff].”
About the whirlwind campaign which only began in July following Joe Biden’s withdrawal, Harris said, “There’s a lot of catching up to do. My opponent, the former president, has been running since 2020… People are exhausted by that old tired playbook of Donald Trump’s… Folks are ready to turn the page.”
The full interview will air on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35 p.m. on Tuesday.
