CNN’s Anderson Cooper Bluntly Asks Kamala Harris ‘Do You Believe Donald Trump is Anti-Semitic?’

CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Vice President Kamala Harris a blunt question during a town hall: “Do you think (former President) Donald Trump is anti-Semitic?”

Cooper moderated a town hall event Wednesday night outside Philadelphia with the VP that featured questions from an audience of “undecided” or “persuadable” voters.

At one point, VP Harris called Trump a “fascist” after several of Trump’s former top aides called him fascist, and amid reports he praised Hitler, wanted his generals to be more like Hitler’s, and said Hitler did “some good things.”

In another exchange, a voter named Beth Samberg asked the vice president how she plans to deal with the issue of anti-Semitism, and Harris included the Trump-Hitler reporting in her answer.

Cooper interrupted and asked the cutting followup:

COOPER: I want you to meet Beth Samberg. She’s a realtor, a mom of four from Bellwood, Pennsylvania. She’s a registered Democrat, says she’s undecided because of concerns about anti-Semitism.

Beth.

BETH SAMBERG: Hi. Thank you for being here.

HARRIS: Thank you, Beth.

SAMBERG: Thank you for remembering, we need to bring the hostages home.

HARRIS: Of course.

SAMBERG: The rise of anti-Semitism and violence from — the rise of anti-Semitism and violence from anti-Semitism has risen greatly on college campuses and on our city streets in the last year. How would you combat this growing trend and protect our young adults?

HARRIS: Thank you, Beth. You are right. And I will say that we have seen a rise in anti-Semitism. It is something that we have to be honest about and we have to deal with. As attorney general, I actually published a hate crimes report, on a regular basis and anti-Semitism was among the highest forms of hate in our country. And this was before October 7. And we know what we’ve seen since.

Part of what we’ve got to do is talk with people so that they understand what are the tropes, what are the roots of — of what we are seeing, so that we can actually have people be more understanding. We need to have laws in place that make those who would commit crimes on behalf of anti-Semitism and hate that they pay a serious consequence. We need to have the deterrence so that doesn’t happen. We need to ensure that college students are safe in their school and feel safe to be able to go to class.

But I’m going to tell you what doesn’t help. Again, I invite you to listen and go online to listen to John Kelly, the former chief of staff of Donald Trump, who has told us Donald Trump said, why — essentially, “Why aren’t my generals like those of Hitler’s, like Hitler,” who has referred, several times — we’ve heard the reports for years.

COOPER: Do you believe Donald Trump is Antisemitic?

HARRIS: I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the well-being and security of America.

Watch above via CNN’s post-town hall coverage.