Vice President Kamala Harris shared her thoughts on former President Donald Trump’s conviction during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, laughing about the outcome.
Harris joined host Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday to discuss various topics, mostly related to the 2024 election. The highlight was getting the vice president’s reaction to Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts for hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election.
“Just to kind of really level set — let’s think about this,” she said. “A jury of 12 people, peers, over the course of six weeks deliberated on the evidence and facts and unanimously determined guilt for 34 felony counts.”
“There was a defense attorney who actively participated in selecting that jury, who actively made decisions about witnesses to call, witnesses to cross-examine, and the jury made their decision,” Harris continued.
“The reality is cheaters don’t like getting caught,” she said to laughs and applause from the crowd, “and being held accountable.”
Harris laughed several times at Kimmel’s interjections, poking fun at Trump’s conviction, including one moment when he said voters want a president who is “allowed to travel overseas.”
“The American people want to know that there is a president who believes that they are accountable to the people,” the vice president said.
These remarks marked the first time Harris commented on Trump’s conviction, shortly after President Joe Biden, in an off-camera speech to donors in Connecticut, denounced his rival over the conviction.
“For the first time in American history a former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency,” Biden said. “But as disturbing as that is, more damaging is the all-out assault Donald Trump is making on the American system of justice.”
Biden’s remarks are among his first on Trump’s legal troubles, which the Biden administration has largely refrained from commenting on to avoid appearing involved in the indictments.