DANA BASH, CNN: The Department of Homeland Security bulletin said that Russia is trying to amplify claims that mail-in voting will lead to widespread voting fraud and undermine the public’s trust in the upcoming election.
Are you worried that Russian interference could cost you the election?
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR VICE PRESIDENT: I am clear that Russia interfered in the election of president of the United States in 2016.
I serve on the Senate Intelligence Committee. We have published detailed reports about exactly what we believe happened. And I do believe that there will be foreign interference in the 2020 election, and that Russia will be at the front of the line.
BASH: Could it cost you the White House?
HARRIS: Theoretically, of course, yes.
BASH: And that’s based on what you’re hearing publicly, or — you mentioned you’re on the Senate Intelligence Committee. HARRIS: I mean, I — listen, let me just tell you something. I — we have to be a realist. And I’m a realist about it. Joe is a realist about it.
We have classic voter suppression at play in this election coming up, where, after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act with Shelby v. Holder in 2013, dozens of states passed laws that were designed to suppress the black vote, to suppress students from voting, to suppress our indigenous people from support — from voting, so much so that, in North Carolina, a court of appeals said it was — the law was passed with surgical precision to get in the way of black voters from voting.
So, we have classic voter suppression. We have what happened in 2016, which is foreign interference. We have a president who is trying to convince the American people not to believe in the integrity of our election system and compromise their belief that their vote might actually count.
These things are all at play. And I am very realistic. Joe is realistic about the fact that, until we can win and get in and put some teeth back in the Voting Rights Act, and bring back the public’s confidence in the system, that there will be many obstacles that people are intentionally placing in front of Americans’ ability to vote.
But we will surpass and surmount and get around those obstacles.
Kamala Harris: “Theoretically,” Russian Interference Could Cost Biden Election | Video
CNN: Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris sat down with CNN’s Dana Bash to discuss race in America, voter suppression and other topics.
