MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
And let's pick up on the question of quite how the White House and the sitting president are going to react to today's big news of the pick of Kamala Harris. I want to bring in NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez.
Hey there.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hi there.
KELLY: So President Trump, I know, was briefing reporters tonight. I also looked at the top of his Twitter feed. He's got a new pinned tweet, which we will get to in a second. What did he have to say when he was talking to journalists tonight?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. He took very quick aim at Kamala Harris and Joe Biden for the pick. He spent - you know, he didn't really have much time talking about - in the press conference and the coronavirus briefing. And he focused most of that time on Kamala Harris. He kind of nonchalantly said he was surprised by the pick, saying Kamala Harris, you know, did very poorly in the primaries. He called her a liar and said she favors raising taxes and wants to cut military funding. He also accused her of being against fracking and said that she favors socialized medicine. Some of these were things from the - her own run for presidency. And he also said she was extraordinary nasty to his SCOTUS nominee, his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
KELLY: The president's reelection campaign does not appear to have been surprised by this. They had a campaign ad ready to go, which is what I was referencing, which is now the top pinned tweet on the president's Twitter account. What's it say?
ORDOÑEZ: Well, yeah. Right. Not at all - just minutes after Biden announced this, President Trump tweeted out that ad targeting Harris. And that ad, you know, basically serves as probably a preview of future attacks from the campaign. It cites her position on "Medicare for All," police reform that she pushed during her campaign. He accuses her - the ad accuses her of embracing the radical left. They have Republicans portraying Biden as kind of a puppet of more liberal politicians and that she is the one who's going to be really leading. The Republican National Committee chairman - chairwoman; pardon me - Ronna McDaniel actually came out almost as quickly, saying in a statement that Biden didn't pick a vice president candidate but a person who would really be in charge for the next four years if he wins.
KELLY: Ouch, ouch - harsh words there from Ronna McDaniel. OK, that is NPR's White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez.
Thank you.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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