Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., pushed back against ABC News' Jonathan Karl after he dismissed Vice President Kamala Harris' past commitment to abolish private health insurance in a heated on-air exchange Sunday.
In an interview on ABC's "This Week," Cotton railed against Harris over her support for policies "like supporting decriminalizing immigration, or giving taxpayer funded health insurance to illegal aliens," arguing that former President Trump will work to draw a "sharp contrast" from her platform in the runup to the election.
The conversation took a turn when Cotton brought up Harris' past support for "taking away health insurance on the job for 170 million Americans."
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"What do you mean taking away health insurance? What are you talking about?" the host interjected as Cotton continued to rattle off far-left issues previously embraced by the Harris campaign.
The Republican lawmaker reminded Karl that Harris declared her support for eliminating private health insurance as part of her ‘Medicare-for-all’ push during her 2019 presidential campaign.
"I mean, that is not her position now," Karl replied, claiming that Harris said she no longer supports ‘Medicare-for-all.’
"How do you know that is not her position now?" Cotton fired back.
"She has not said that. Maybe anonymous aides on a Friday night have said that but the last thing that she said…," he continued before Karl interrupted.
The ABC host proceeded to praise Harris for "making an effort to move to the middle" of her party.
"She's taking these efforts not to change these positions but to hide these positions," Cotton replied. "The American people are totally justified to conclude that Kamala Harris is a dangerous San Francisco liberal based on what she campaigned on the last time she ran for president and what this administration has done the last four years.
"You would've thought watching the DNC last week that the Democrats are not in office, they're not in power, that they're campaigning against an incumbent Republican, when in reality, she's been part of the failures of the Biden-Harris administration for four years and when she campaigned for president in her own right, she did in fact promised things…" he went on.
The two continued to spat over whether Harris positions from 2019 on issues like decriminalizing illegal immigration and abolishing health insurance have evolved.
"She said she has changed," Karl repeated.
"No, she hasn't," Cotton pushed back.
"Yes she has."
"No, no she has not," the lawmaker persisted.
Harris' campaign told Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy earlier this month that Harris will not push the subject of single-payer or "Medicare-for-all" this go around, despite her past support on the issue.
However, Harris herself has yet to express her change in policy views.
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Harris' plan in January 2019 called on eliminating private insurance. But in July 2019; she proposed a new plan that would include a role for private insurance companies to privately administer Medicare plans, though under strict rules.
A clip of Cotton's exchange with Karl was widely shared X, with one critic wondering whether Karl was "auditioning to be Harris' press secretary" with his unwavering defense of the vice president.
The official Trump War Room account replied with a clip of Karl discussing Harris' ‘Medicare for all’ platform on ABC in 2020.
"In 2020, you were literally on the same program mentioning Kamala's support for Medicare for All (which, by her own admission, would abolish private health insurance)," they wrote.
Others noted that Karl and his media counterparts have not pressed Harris on whether she has taken different positions from her 2019 campaign, as she continues to evade formal press engagements and interviews.
"For the sake of argument let’s say she has changed her position. Jon Karl and the rest of the corporate press seem totally uninterested in WHY she suddenly changed all these positions she campaigned on in 2020, and they will never ask her about it," The Federalist senior editor John Daniel Davidson posted.
Politico columnist Jonathan Martin quickly came to Harris' defense. "Never or…whenever she does her first actual interview, which may be this week," he replied.
Fox News' Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
