Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign director, Michael Tyler, on Wednesday dodged a question from CNN's John Berman about why Harris had changed her stance on fracking.
Harris campaigned on a ban on fracking during the 2020 presidential election, but quickly reversed her stance once she entered the 2024 presidential race. CNN News Central's Berman twice asked Tyler why Harris changed her position, but the communications director avoided answering, instead saying the vice president was “proud” of the Biden-Harris administration's record on energy and discussing Project 2025. (Related: Kamala Harris is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal and is currently running for president.)
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Harris campaign official avoids CNN host's question about VP's change of stance on fracking issue pic.twitter.com/WMUaFmEIyO
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 28, 2024
“Look, she's been very clear here. She's been proud of the work she's done as a member of this administration to make sure that American energy production is at an all-time high, and we want to continue that progress in her first term,” Tyler said in response to Berman's first question about shifting policy. “And I think that whether it's energy policy, whether it's economic policy, we have a warrior in Kamala Harris who always puts the interests of the American people first and brings people together for solutions that improve people's quality of life, our economy and energy production.”
“I think it's also a very stark contrast to Donald Trump, who may say one thing when he's in Pennsylvania, during a speech, but frankly, when you look at his economic policies, his entire Project 2025 policy, the only solutions are ones that benefit the people at the very top, the billionaires, the rich like Donald Trump, the wealthiest corporations, and they don't benefit American workers, and they don't do anything to actually improve the lives of the American people, they don't do anything to actually improve the lives of the American consumer,” he continued. “So, again, I think the contrast is very clear.”
Harris said in 2019,There is no doubt“She would stop fracking if elected president, but her campaign said The vice president has told Congress he no longer wants to ban the practice, and has also backed away from positions he took during the 2020 campaign in support of federal gun buyback mandates and an end to private health insurance.
Berman told Tyler he would return to the topic of Project 2025 shortly, but asked the communications director if there was “anything specifically that changed his mind” about fracking during his time as vice president.
“No, I'll say it again, the vice president is very proud of the Biden-Harris Administration's record on energy production and the economy in general. She wants to continue to build on the progress we've made here,” Tyler reiterated. “And that applies to energy production, and it applies to the economy in general, right? She's proud of the 800,000 manufacturing jobs that have been created, the 15 million new jobs that have been created.”
The federal government overestimated the number of jobs in the U.S. economy from April 2023 to March 2024 by more than 800,000, according to data recently released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Tyler then again mentioned Project 2025, saying former President Donald Trump was “focused on pursuing his dangerous and extreme ideological Project 2025 agenda.”
“I think the issue of fracking will come up again in the future,” Berman replied.
President Trump has denied knowing anything about or being involved with Project 2025 and has even criticized some of the project's policies.
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