Kamala Harris tacitly agrees to strengthening Trump's wall at CNN Townhall

Kamala Harris, at a CNN Town Hall, struggled with questions on border security and admitted the bipartisan bill she supports includes wall funding.

At a CNN Townhall, Kamala Harris appeared to quietly hop on board Trump’s "medieval vanity project" — the border wall she once ridiculed and called racist. When pressed about her stance on border security, the VP danced around the topic, refusing to give a straight answer on whether she’s now backing more wall construction.

Kamala Harris is at the center of a plagiarism controversy, with allegations of copying significant portions of a colleague's text in her 2007 testimony. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP)(AFP)

Despite calling Trump’s wall a "waste of taxpayer money" back in 2020, the presidential hopeful now seems to be tiptoeing toward the idea, nodding along as a bipartisan bill she supports includes, wait for it... more wall funding.

Kamala Harris deflects on border-related question

At the CNN Townhall, VP Kamala Harris faced some hard questions about keeping the border safe, especially with so many people sneaking into the country during the Biden administration. She said that while some of the things the president did help a little bit, they were just quick fixes.

A real, lasting solution needs support from both political parties in Congress. Harris pointed out that Trump’s promise to build a border wall didn’t work as planned and said she’s focused on actually strengthening the border. “I think of what he did and how he did it didn’t make much sense because he didn’t do much of anything,” she said.

When CNN moderator Anderson Cooper asked Vice President Kamala Harris if she supports building portions of the border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, she responded, “I want to strengthen our border." Harris accepted that the bipartisan border security bill she backs includes funding for a wall, despite her previous criticism.

Fact-checking Harris’ claim about Trump building just 2% of wall

Following the town hall, where Vice President Kamala Harris appeared nervous and seemed to dodge several questions before admitting she struggles with interviews, she claimed that only 2% of the U.S.-Mexico border wall had been built during Donald Trump's administration.

But, when CNN checked it out, they found that this statement was way overblown. A 2021 report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers showed that about 52 miles of the main wall and 33 miles of the backup wall were built during Trump's time. Additionally, “More than 370 miles of broken-down or outdated primary and secondary wall was also replaced.”

While he was campaigning, it came out that Trump said he was going to build a wall that could go all the way from 1,000 to 500 miles. But, a 2021 report showed he only got about 5.2% of what he wanted done. The whole U.S.-Mexico border is about 2,000 miles, so the 52 miles of the new main wall is just 2.6% of the total. However, Trump's main goal was to make some parts of the border tougher, not to build a brand new wall.