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It’s full steam ahead for Vice President Kamala Harris, after President Joe Biden decided to end his reelection campaign and endorse her. Democrats and donors are now following in Biden’s footsteps and coalescing behind Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin joined WTOP to discuss the latest developments.
Listen to the full interview or read the transcript, which has been lightly edited for clarity.
Kyle Cooper: Congressman, thanks for being with us here on WTOP. You were, of course, one of the key Democratic lawmakers to call on President Biden to end his campaign. Now that that’s happened and Vice President Harris seems to be on her way, how are you feeling about that?
Rep. Jamie Raskin: Well, actually just to clarify one thing, I never called on him to end his campaign. I wrote him a long letter just about the importance of meeting with people, the mayors, the governors, the senators, the representatives and making a team decision, you know. But having said that, the president had a terrific decision-making process and he came up with a decision, I think, that will resonate through the ages. I mean, he’s a great American hero and a patriot and great president, of course. And he’s still the heart and soul of our party.
The decision has had an electrifying effect on the Democratic Party. Kamala Harris is going to be a magnificent leader for us. And as a career prosecutor, she’s going to prosecute the case against Donald Trump, a convicted felon, twice impeached and adjudicated sexual assailant, and someone who’s tried to overthrow the American constitutional order. So I think we’ve got a very clear contrast and tremendous enthusiasm on our side of the aisle, and it’s really had a completely revitalizing, rejuvenating effect on Democratic politics.
Kyle Cooper: Do you think there’ll be any doubt going into the convention next month who the nominee will be?
Rep. Jamie Raskin: No, I don’t think so. I mean, Kamala Harris has just raised, I think, $81 million in 24 hours, which is clearly an American record, if not a world record. You know, Donald Trump has a couple billionaires who are saying they’ll give him something like $40 million a month. But this is the right way to raise it — from hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people across the country who believe in what you stand for. And so it’s going to be a hard-fought race. There’s no doubt. But we have all the momentum on our side.
I know the Republicans were saying, ‘Oh, the Democrats are so divided, and they’re not going to be able to get it together,’ and everything. It’ll be like when the Republicans tried to choose the house speaker and it took more than a week and there were 15 ballots. Well, nothing like that. I can guarantee you it’s going to be one ballot. I haven’t heard of anybody else running, and there’s just overflowing enthusiasm, both for Joe Biden and his amazing presidency and also for Vice President Harris and her candidacy.
Kyle Cooper: If I could change gears on you for a second. I know you were at the center of the Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle’s testimony during the hearing today. How would you characterize what she had to say?
Rep. Jamie Raskin: I would just have to say that there was a lot of evasion and a failure to confront what Congress is asking about, which is what America is asking about. You know, how is it that they left that roof uncovered? How is it that a guy clambers up to the roof with an assault weapon?
And then even beyond all of the manifest failures of the Secret Service, what about the failures of Congress itself to pass a ban on AR-15s and assault weapons. Because that wasn’t even the worst AR-15 mass shooting on that day, on July 13. There was a more serious one, even in Alabama, where four people were killed and more than 10 people were wounded. So we’ve really got to get on top of both presidential security but also on top of the problem of the assault weapons.
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