Exclusive: WEST LEBANON, N.H. — Former President Trump is no laughing matter when it comes to Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The longtime independent senator from Vermont, a champion of progressive causes and a two-time runner-up in the Democratic presidential primary, will make a two-day tour of neighboring New Hampshire and Maine this weekend campaigning on behalf of Republican presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, trying to keep her from returning to the White House.
“Trump cannot win, and we must do everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Sanders told supporters on Friday during his first stop in New Hampshire, a key battleground state in the presidential election.
Trump tries to define Harris as ultra-liberal
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders addressed supporters on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, on Friday. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
But minutes earlier, in an exclusive interview with Fox News, Sanders briefly burst out laughing when asked about comments made by Trump this week in which he claimed that Harris, who has replaced President Biden as the leading 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, is more liberal than the Vermont senator.
Trump has spent the past week trying to define Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, as an ultra-liberal, pointing to her record as a senator and vice president.
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Speaking to a packed arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Trump called Harris “the most incompetent, far-left vice president in the history of the United States. She’s a far-left lunatic who would destroy our country if given the chance to become president.”
Referring to Sanders, Trump claimed Harris is “more liberal than Bernie Sanders. Can you believe it?”
Former President Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Matt Kelly)
Sanders responded, “When he says, ‘Can you believe it?’ I hope people say no.”
“That’s not true. Once again, Mr. Trump is lying,” Sanders said. “Let me just say that, for better or worse, Kamala Harris is less progressive than I am.”
During the Fox News interview and at a subsequent event, Sanders criticized Trump, who two months ago was convicted of 34 felony counts in the first criminal trial of a former and current president in U.S. history.
“I believe this is the most important election of our lifetimes, and I’m going to do everything in my power to defeat Donald Trump,” the senator emphasized.
Republicans say it would be “undemocratic” for Harris to replace Biden as the Democratic leader.
“The American people will not and cannot accept a president who is a pathological liar, who doesn’t think women should have control over their own bodies, who thinks climate change is a hoax in the middle of a heatwave, who doesn’t actually believe in democracy, and who hasn’t said he would accept the results of the election if he lost. And for all of these reasons, Trump must be defeated,” Sanders said.
Sanders is campaigning on Harris’ behalf but has not formally endorsed the vice president.
Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Milwaukee on Tuesday for a campaign event. (Daniel Steinle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“For the vice president to win this election, and I want her to win, I think she needs to start talking about issues that matter to the working class in this country, because there are tens of millions of people who are really suffering,” Sanders explained. “They want to know what the next president is going to do for them, and I really hope that Vice President Harris will make that clear.”
“The path to victory is to talk about relevant issues,” he reiterated.
When asked what specifically Harris needs to say, Sanders said, “I expect the Vice President to talk about the need to significantly lower the cost of prescription drugs. I expect him to talk about the need for tax reform to ensure that the wealthiest people in the country start paying their fair share of taxes and to dramatically expand child care and affordable housing in this country. I also think we need to be firm on climate change and be clear that if we’re going to save this planet for future generations, we’re going to have to be willing to transition our energy system away from fossil fuels.”
Sanders said Harris’ running mate, expected to be selected within the next two weeks, would be an indication of whether she would put forward progressive policies in her bid for the White House.
“I think that will be the case, and I really hope that she will look at one of the many progressive people who I think would do a good job as vice president,” the senator said.
Sanders was touring New Hampshire and Maine less than a week after Biden called off his 2024 reelection challenge to Trump. Biden’s move comes amid growing pressure within the Democratic Party to withdraw after his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate with Trump last month.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders addressed supporters on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, on Friday. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
The embattled president’s immediate endorsement of Harris sparked a surge in support for her from Democratic governors, senators, representatives and other party officials. By Monday night, the vice president announced he had secured the party’s nomination with the support of a majority of the roughly 4,000 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention. On Friday morning, former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, were among the last major party officials to endorse the vice president.
Harris has raised a staggering $129 million since Biden’s announcement, her campaign touted Thursday morning.
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Republicans have denounced the process as far from democratic, pointing to Biden’s own comments.
Before dropping out, the president repeatedly cited the 14 million votes he won in this year’s Democratic presidential primary as a reason to stay in the race in 2024.
“The voters, and only the voters, decide who the Democratic nominee will be,” he emphasized in his July 8 letter, “not the media, not the pundits, not big donors, not any select group of individuals, no matter how well-intentioned.”
Speaking at a rally in Charlotte on Wednesday, President Trump called the Democratic National Convention’s top candidate change an “undemocratic move.”
“Democrats are a terrible bunch,” Trump argued.
And Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton claimed in a social media post this week that “Joe Biden has ignored millions of votes in the Democratic Primary and succumbed to a coup by Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hollywood donors.”
But Sanders, who argued the party was rigged against him during his bitter battle with eventual nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, has not bought into the Republican criticism.
“These are extraordinary times and Democrats have had to act quickly,” Sanders said. “Given the reality of Biden’s withdrawal and the Democratic convention approaching, I think she announced her candidacy and has garnered the support she needs, and I think that’s good.”
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
