Harris blasts Pence in heated COVID-19 exchange: 'You respect the American people when you tell them the truth'

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

published 8 October 2020

Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) immediately got down to business on Wednesday night, sparring over their candidate's competing plans to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

"They knew what was happening and they didn't tell you," Harris stressed. "Can you imagine if you knew on January 28th as opposed to March 13th, what they knew, what you might have done to prepare? They knew and they covered it up." She concluded her opening remarks by arguing, "this administration has forfeited their right to re-election based on" their response.

Pence batted off the attack. "The reality is, when you look at the Biden plan, it reads an awful lot like what President Trump and I and our task force have been doing every step of the way," he claimed, adding: "It looks a little bit like plagiarism, which is something Joe Biden knows a little bit about," referencing a scandal that sank Biden's first presidential campaign in 1987. Pence went on to argue that "when you say what the American people have done over the last eight months hasn't worked, that's a disservice to the American people."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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