Following a second assassination attempt at former president Donald Trump’s golf club, a clip of Vice President Kamala Harris from April 2018 has resurfaced, in which she makes a comment that some are interpreting as a joke about Trump’s death.
In an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, DeGeneres asks Harris, “If you had to be stuck in an elevator with either President Trump, Mike Pence, or Jeff Sessions, who would it be?”
Harris responded, “Does one of us have to come out alive?” before laughing.
As Newsweek previously reported, Harris did not make direct reference to Trump’s assassination or death, making the interpretation largely misleading, but that hasn’t stopped it from going viral before.
In October 2020, the Trump War Room account on X, then known as Twitter, and Fox News host Sean Hannity both posted the clip, saying it showed Harris joking about killing Trump. In 2021 it resurfaced again when conservative commentator Matt Margolis posted it and called for the vice president to be impeached as a result.
Vice President Kamala Harris reacts as former president Donald Trump speaks during the presidential debate on September 10th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A joke Harris made about being stuck in an elevator with Trump, Mike Pence, and Jeff Sessions has resurfaced from 2018 and she is facing backlash.
SAUL LOEB/Getty Images
It was re-posted Monday by podcaster Benny Johnson, who wrote, “Kamala Harris openly joked about assassinating President Trump in 2018 as an audience of lobotomized clapping seals cheered. And you’re wondering how we ended up here?”
It has since received 2.8 million views, 59,000 likes, and 20,000 reposts, with many people suggesting the comments should count against her in her run for president.
Newsweek reached out to a representative for Harris for comment via email outside of business hours and will update this article if they reply.
Harris has condemned violence targeting her opponent on numerous occasions.
On September 15, following the news that shots had been fired at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, she wrote on X, “I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America,” as Newsweek previously reported.
She made similar comments following his assassination attempt in July in Pennsylvania.
Harris wrote on X, “Doug and I are relieved that he is not seriously injured. We are praying for him, his family, and all those who have been injured and impacted by this senseless shooting.”
She continued, “We are grateful to the United States Secret Service, first responders, and local authorities for their immediate action. Violence such as this has no place in our nation. We must all condemn this abhorrent act and do our part to ensure that it does not lead to more violence.”
In another post, she also wrote, “Assassination attempts have no place in our nation, or anywhere.”
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