Former President Donald J. Trump has begun preparing for his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris and has brought in the former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to help sharpen his attacks in a recent practice session at his private club and home, Mar-a-Lago, according to two people with knowledge of Mr. Trump’s schedule.
Ms. Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party after her 2020 presidential run and has rebranded herself as a celebrity among Trump’s base of support, has long been friendly with Mr. Trump and was briefly considered to be his running mate. But her involvement in Mr. Trump’s debate preparation, which has not previously been reported, was partly because of her own performance in a 2019 Democratic presidential primary debate, when Ms. Gabbard eviscerated Ms. Harris in a memorable onstage encounter.
In an email, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, confirmed Ms. Gabbard’s involvement.
Ms. Leavitt said the former president has “proven to be one of the best debaters in political history as evidenced by his knockout blow to Joe Biden. He does not need traditional debate prep but will continue to meet with respected policy advisers and effective communicators like Tulsi Gabbard, who successfully dominated Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2020.”
Mr. Trump likes to say he doesn’t need to prepare for debates, and his team is under instructions to use the term “policy time” to describe their sessions. But Mr. Trump has spent more time this year practicing for debates than he did in either 2016 or 2020, according to advisers who have worked with him. His first debate against Mr. Biden in 2020 was disastrous for Mr. Trump, who came off as overbearing.
He still doesn’t do traditional debate prep. Nobody played Mr. Biden in his sessions ahead of their CNN debate on June 27. Instead, he sat with advisers for blocks of time or informally on plane trips and discussed potential topics and lines of questioning. In more formal sessions at Mar-a-Lago, aides have sat in chairs opposite him, playing the role of moderators. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida asked especially combative questions, according to a person who was in the room. Other lawmakers, including his eventual running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, have also spent time with Mr. Trump on policy topics.
Mr. Biden’s halting and disjointed performance in his June debate with Mr. Trump ultimately led him to drop out of the race. Mr. Trump’s aides are expected to handle preparations similarly for his debate with Ms. Harris, scheduled for Sept. 10.
Ms. Gabbard brings some key qualities to the role for Mr. Trump: She’s a woman, at a moment when Mr. Trump is for a second time facing a woman as his general election rival; she’s a former House member, giving her policy experience; and, perhaps most importantly for Mr. Trump, she has been on a debate stage with Ms. Harris and delivered a stinging attack against her record as a prosecutor.
Ms. Gabbard’s attacks in that July 2019 debate, however, all came from the left.
Ms. Gabbard said during that debate that Ms. Harris, when she was a district attorney in San Francisco, “put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana.”
She also accused Ms. Harris of having obstructed evidence that could have let an innocent man leave death row, doing so only when a court “forced her to.”
Ms. Harris replied that she was “proud of making a decision to not just give fancy speeches, or be in a legislative body and give speeches on the floor, but actually doing the work.” After the debate, Ms. Harris mocked Ms. Gabbard’s low standing in the polls. Ms. Harris dropped out of that race in December 2019, and Ms. Gabbard did so months later, in March 2020.
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