Ex-Clinton Aide Reveals Lengths He Went To Playing Trump In Kamala Harris Debate Prep

Former Hillary Clinton aide Philippe Reines jumped back into character as former President Donald Trump to help prepare Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for last Tuesday’s debate.

On Wednesday, Reines opened up to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about attempting to goad the vice president in practice debates, even though he’d never met her before. (Reines assisted Clinton in the same way in 2016, when he helped the then-Democratic candidate learn how to dodge a Trump hug).

Reines donned a dark suit, a Trump-style red tie and caked himself in bronzer for the practice one-on-ones with Harris, he told Collins.

In fact, he applied so much fake tan that makeup artists prepping him for Collins’ show said he still hadn’t wiped it all off and it remained on his face, he revealed.

“You have to be loud, you have to be buffoonish, you have to lie like there’s no tomorrow,” he said of his portrayal of Trump.

Reines rarely broke character during practice, he said, apart from when his house alarm went off and he “had to answer the phone to give them the safe word, that was just poor timing.”

And Harris’ onstage handshake with Trump hadn’t been rehearsed, he added.

“In her mind, that was the right, bigger thing to do,” he said.

Watch the full interview here: