Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on the Trump Harris debate

We are just about 4.5 hours away from the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. This will be the first time they will be on the same stage. Earlier on the news at four, we spoke with former Virginia Republican Governor James Gilmore about tonight's debate and what's at stake. And now our Allison Seymour has an interview with another former Virginia Governor Democrat Terry mcauliffe. So governor as the former chair of the Democratic National Committee and your role in the Clinton White House, you are no stranger to presidential debates. So what does Kamala Harris need to do tonight? And what should that mission be? This is gonna be a huge debate for her tonight. Very important. You got to remember that this will be Donald Trump's seventh presidential debate. This will be Kamala Harris's first presidential debate. What she has to do tonight is lay out her agenda, positive economic agenda, lifting people up, taking folks to the next level that as president, I will protect your freedoms, I will protect a woman's right to choose. I will protect democracy and I will grow this economy to build the middle class. To me, that's the most important thing that she needs to lay out tonight. Trump's gonna do what he does. He's gonna lie to the entire debate. There's no fact checking going on. She has to present her message tonight. What shouldn't she do tonight is I wouldn't pay a lot of attention to Trump. You can't let him rattle her. He's gonna throw one false suit after another as he did in the Biden debate and you just can't take debate. This is the first time a lot of people will be focused on watching her listening to her. What's my message? Where am I taking this country? That's what people are paying attention to. Let Trump be Trump. Let him talk about what he wants to do. You need to lay out your positive agenda to build this economy, protecting freedoms and you know, restoring democracy in our great country. That's the message tonight. You know, in that same vein though, some have expressed that she needs to go full prosecutor on the former president. Highlight his age. Try to make him angry. What are your thoughts on that as we've seen in the debates without fact checking, he can say whatever he wants and you know, fact check it the next day. But that doesn't actually really matter if she did that. She would spend the whole debate just doing that fact checking everything Donald Trump says, you know, listen, when he says things are absolutely incorrect that have affected our country. She needs to go out and say no, that's a lie. Here's the truth, but here's what I'm gonna do for you. I just think it's really important for folks. They wanna move on. She wants to turn the chapter. This is a whole new generation. She needs to have her positive agenda to get folks motivated. I mean, the polls are great today, but the election is not today and we've got to motivate people. Keep them enthused energy is on our side clearly. And tonight she needs to keep that energy going. When she looks at getting folks to the polls, it looks like independents and moderate conservatives could really decide this election. So what does the vice president need to do to bring them over into her fold? Great question. Number one, protecting freedoms. Number two, she's gonna build this economy. You got to remember that Donald Trump and his Supreme court eliminated Roe V Wade in a woman's right to choose in our country. And for all of your viewers here, this is a very important issue. She will protect a woman's right to choose. Very important going forward in this region. Donald Trump has project 2025 which wants to eliminate most of the federal government. Well, in the DMV, most of the federal workers live in the DMV. He wants to eliminate your jobs. We have so many military in this region. He has called those who served our country and lost their lives, losers and suckers. So she needs land. The contrast. Here's Donald Trump, here's what he's done. Project 2025 will eliminate your job. Here's what I'll do, I'll roll your job, I'll create new jobs and help your family. But that's the difference is protecting the freedoms. He wants to roll them back. He's got a scary agenda that just doesn't work and it doesn't work in the, in the DMV. I can clearly tell you that before we let you go. Uh this debate tonight, is it more important in your opinion for the former president or the current vice president? I think people know Trump. I mean, this is, I say is his seventh debate. This will be Kamala harris' first debate. I think it's more important for her in the sense that a lot of people, you know, they haven't seen her. He was president for four years. He's been on TV, every single day. This will be a big first in depth. Look at Kamala Harris. I know her. Well, I've spent a lot of time with her. She is going to do great tonight and you know, she's ready to go, she's ready to take this country. She's ready to be president of the United States of America. But you know, this obviously for her first introduction to so many Americans tonight, we have 30 seconds. Uh There were these rules, three key rules for tonight. Uh, you know, the mics are muted. So on, so on. Does that, does that play in her favor or against her? You know, everybody's trying to negotiate this one way or the other? You know, he constantly likes to interrupt. He likes to bully, you know, he's done that in his past debates when he walked over and stood next to Hillary Clinton when she was speaking. Um, I like the idea of the muting of the mics because I do really want to hear what each person has to say about what agenda items to move the country forward without somebody constantly, you know, Trump loves to interrupt. So I like the idea that they're muted because I, you know, I really would love to see a true debate where here we lay our agenda and talk back and forth about particular issues and the muted mic helps us do that better. Governor Terry mcauliffe, a former governor of the Commonwealth. Thank you so much. Thank you.