Harris says 'underdog' campaign will overcome Trump's 'wild lies'

 

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign fundraising event at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on July 27, 2024. [AFP]

US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday acknowledged the uphill climb to defeating Donald Trump in November but said her freshly minted presidential campaign would prevail over the "wild lies" of her Republican rival.

As Trump addressed a bitcoin conference in Tennessee, Harris was speaking at a fundraising event in Massachusetts with celebrity guests including singer-songwriter James Taylor and cellist Yoyo Ma.

"We are the underdogs in this race, but this is a people-powered campaign," she told the crowd at the event, which her campaign said would net $1.4 million.

"Donald Trump has been resorting to some wild lies about my record. And some of what he and his running mate are saying, well, it's just plain weird," she said.

The Harris campaign has adopted "weird" as a new catch-all for describing Trump's aggressive rhetoric.

His attacks include allegations that Harris wants to legalize killing newborn babies -- a falsehood stemming from the vice president's fervent support of abortion rights.

Harris has made her advocacy on the issue central to her campaign against Trump, whose conservative nominees to the Supreme Court helped overturn the national right to the procedure in 2022.

The former California prosecutor also challenged Trump to a debate, after his campaign said this week he would not agree to keeping a September 10 televised face-off previously scheduled with Biden.

"I hope he reconsiders because we have a lot to talk about," she said.

'Mined, minted, made'

Trump, 78, is now the oldest major-party nominee in history and scrambling to reorient an election against someone two decades his junior, having expected to face an 81-year-old incumbent Joe Biden beset by concerns over infirmity.

On Saturday, he made his pitch to the cryptocurrency industry, one he previously called a "scam."

Saying China or others could seize the reins on the fast-growing field, Trump's appeal is welcomed by crypto enthusiasts who feel they have been treated harshly by the Biden administration.

"This is the steel industry of 100 years ago," Trump told the bitcoin conference. "I think you're just in your infancy."

"If crypto is going to define the future I want (it) to be mined, minted and made in the USA," he said to cheers, calling for the United States to be "the crypto capital of the planet."

Trump on Saturday also vowed a return to outdoor rallies two weeks after being wounded in an attempted assassination at a campaign event in Pennsylvania.

"I will continue to do outdoor rallies, and the Secret Service has agreed to substantially step up their operation. They are very capable of doing so," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

"No one can ever be allowed to stop or impede free speech or gathering," he added.

Trump has made the shooting a key part of his campaign pitch, telling supporters he "took a bullet for democracy."

He and running mate J.D. Vance will hold a rally later Saturday night -- at an indoor hockey arena in the midwestern US state of Minnesota.

Harris, seeking to become the first female president in US history, is tasked with rapidly assembling a campaign against an opponent who has been in near permanent reelection mode since he became president in 2016.

Her late-starting White House bid has enjoyed early momentum. Polls that had shown Biden steadily slipping against Trump now show Harris in a race too close to call.

She's garnered support from Democratic heavyweights, including Biden himself and most recently Barack and Michelle Obama.

Torianna Parrish, 34, was among the crowd greeting Harris upon her arrival Saturday afternoon at the airport in Westfield, Massachusetts.

"I wanted to show there's power in numbers. I wanted to show my support," she said.

"We're rooting for her and we want to see her make this country what it needs to be."

Harris was introduced at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield by Taylor, who said: "Let us honor the woman and the moment and may our ardent support be the wind in her sails. Our hopes go with her and she stands for us all."