Harris campaign slams Trump for ‘shameless flip-flops’ on marijuana

Days after Vice President Kamala Harris answered questions about her changing views on policy, her campaign sent a memo criticizing Donald Trump for his “shameless reversals,” including on marijuana reform, accusing the former president of “simply making things up” ahead of the election.

On Saturday morning, Trump indicated on social media that he supports a bill in Florida, where he lives, that would legalize recreational marijuana. While calling on the state legislature to “ban its use in public spaces, so we don’t smell like marijuana everywhere we go,” Trump said that “no one should be a criminal in Florida, when it’s legal in so many other states.”

“We don’t need to ruin lives “& wasting taxpayer money arresting adults who had personal amounts of it on them, and no one should have to mourn a loved one because they died from marijuana laced with fentanyl,” Trump added.

Harris’ campaign is portraying Trump’s support for the measure as another policy shift in a long series of “brazen about-faces,” according to a memo released Saturday, first obtained by ABC News.

“As of this morning, Trump is now suggesting he supports legalizing marijuana — but as president, his own Justice Department has cracked down on marijuana-related crimes,” Ian Sams, a longtime Harris communications aide who joined the campaign earlier this month after a stint in the White House counsel’s office, said in the memo.

ABC News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

Trump’s record on marijuana has been mixed. While he was in office, his Justice Department announced it would eliminate an Obama-era policy that limited federal prosecutions for some marijuana sales in states where it is legal, but Trump reversed that decision a few months later. He also voiced support for a bipartisan bill in 2018 aimed at protecting state pro-marijuana laws, but in 2019 he used part of his salary to fund a promotional campaign highlighting the negative effects of marijuana use.

The memo comes just two days after Harris gave her first high-profile interview to CNN, more than a month after launching her presidential campaign after President Joe Biden announced he was dropping his re-election bid.

Harris’ role as vice president naturally required her to embrace Biden’s agenda and program, but since her ascension to the top of the ticket, it has not yet been clear how her policy views might differ from Biden’s — and those of his 2019 campaign —.

“My values ​​have not changed,” Harris said repeatedly during a CNN interview Thursday when asked about her shift in policy positions, particularly from what she presented in the 2020 primaries.

Harris’ team’s argument is that her record in office reflects her evolution on some issues, but not Trump’s.

“As soon as Trump starts getting criticized for his unpopular agenda and record,” Sams said, referring to Project 2025, “he rushes to claim that he would actually do the opposite. It’s a desperate play by a candidate who has his back against the wall to take on Vice President Harris.”

“But it requires careful examination,” Sams argued. “He was president for four years, and how he exercised his power on these issues is the best indicator of how he will do so again if he gets the chance. What he’s saying now is just the desperate talk of a scared man who is afraid of losing.”