Vice President Harris said during an interview broadcast on Sunday that she believes that the threat within the U.S. makes the nation “weaker.”
“I think that it is a threat. I think it is very dangerous. I think it is very harmful and it makes us weaker,” Harris told host Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” during a discussion on domestic threats.
The vice president noted that the U.S. historically has had the “honor and privilege” of exemplifying a “great democracy,” which has given the country the grounding to champion democratic principles throughout the world and act as a “role model” for democracy.
However, Harris warned that recent events, such as some elected officials denying the results of the 2020 presidential election and other refusing to condemn the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, cause countries around the world to question the United States’ “commitment” toward democracy, and said that she is “very concerned.”
Todd, noting the 21st anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Sunday, asked if domestic threats are “equal of greater than what we faced after 9/11.”
Harris replied that she has taken many oaths of office, vowing to defend and uphold the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, adding that “we don’t compare the two in the oath, but we know they both can exist and we must defend against it.”
“The fact is having served under the Senate Intelligence Committee and now as vice president, I can tell you the nature of domestic threat versus a foreign threat— they’re very different,” Harris said. “Note, both are harmful and extremely dangerous, but they’re very different.”
“When I think about what we have been seeing from the attacks from within, I wish that we would approach it the same way as Americans instead of through some partisan lens,” she added.