Democratic
vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine leaned over to Hillary Clinton on
Thursday night right after she became the first woman to accept a major
party's presidential nomination and marked the historic moment with a
few words.
"It is a great
country and you've just made it a lot greater," Kaine told Clinton, the
Virginia senator recounted Friday morning on CNN's "New Day."
Kaine
told CNN's Alisyn Camerota that joining Clinton onstage Thursday night
after she accepted the Democratic nomination was "a very, very emotional
moment" and called Clinton's speech "such a contrast" to Republican
nominee Donald Trump's speech at the Republican convention.
"It was kind of midnight in America," Kaine said of Trump's speech. "Her speech was morning in America."
Kaine: Trump 'temperamentally' disqualified from being president
Kaine
also slipped into the vice presidential nominee role of attack dog
Friday morning as he slammed Trump's recent comments calling on Russia
to dig up and release thousands of Clinton's emails.
Kaine
called the comments "temperamentally a disqualification for the office"
and rejected Trump's defense that they were "sarcastic."
"I
don't have a sense of humor about cyberterrorism," Kaine said. "I don't
think he was being sarcastic, I think he was being ignorant."
In
a later interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, to air Sunday at "State of
the Union," Kaine also ribbed Trump for recently confusing him with a
former Republican governor of New Jersey, Tom Kean.
"I
was a no-show governor of New Jersey when I was governor of Virginia,
and the fact that he was a lousy governor of New Jersey and he tried to
raise taxes on his first day in office," Kaine jested. "Ok, look, the
guy's new to it and we're a big country and there's 50 states and New
Jersey's different than Virginia, I guess you've got to let him climb
the learning curve."
"I don't know
anything about his sanity, I've never met him," Kaine added. "But
somebody who would mistake New Jersey for Virginia, or Virginia for New
Jersey, I mean I just scratch my head."
Kaine: 'Nobody has given me a reason' to back TPP
On
"New Day," Kaine also denied he had changed his stance on the
Trans-Pacific Partnership, insisting that he has not "shifted my
position on that."
Kaine voted to
grant President Barack Obama fast-track authority to negotiate TPP and
praised aspects of the deal, but said Friday morning that he was still
concerned about an issue he raised initially with TPP: "The right of
corporations to challenge unfair trade practices in private courts,"
without giving labor unions the same rights.
"It's been a year and nobody has given me a reason why we should embrace a trade deal," he said.
Trump
has slammed both Clinton and Kaine for their past support of the TPP
deal and insisted that Clinton will ultimately approve the deal after
passing minor changes. Top Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe also suggested
Clinton would eventually pass the trade deal as well, comments the
Clinton campaign disputed.
Kaine says he's for the Hyde amendment
Kaine also said he continues to support the Hyde Amendment, which bans using taxpayer dollars for abortion.
"I have been for the Hyde Amendment. And I have not changed my position on that," he said.
Although
Kaine is Catholic who is personally opposed to abortion, he has a 100%
"pro-choice" rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America having voted against
restrictions on abortion, including a ban on public funding for elective
abortion under the Affordable Care Act and a ban on most abortions
after the fifth month of pregnancy.
The
2016 Democratic Party platform calls for the repealing of the Hyde
Amendment, which critics say would allow for the unlimited federal
funding of elective abortions for Medicaid recipients. But Kaine
recently told the Weekly Standard that he had not been informed of that
change.
"I haven't been informed
of that change, but I'm going to check it out," Kaine said earlier in
July. "I have traditionally been a supporter of the Hyde Amendment, but
I'll check it out."
Clinton's
campaign manager Robby Mook and spokesman Jesse Ferguson have said Kaine
supports Clinton's commitment to repeal the Hyde amendment earlier this
week.
And press secretary Brian Fallon tweeted that Kaine promised to carry out Clinton's agenda on the issue.
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