PHOENIX — Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that former President Donald Trump’s comments this week about protecting women, whether they “like it or not,” are a sign of the way he “devalues” women.

“His latest comment is just the latest in a series of examples we have seen from him in his words and actions about how he devalues ​​women’s ability to have the choice and freedom to make decisions about their own bodies,” says Harris. told NBC News in an exclusive interview.

The vice president also argued that most Americans “believe that women are intelligent enough and should be respected so that their agency can make decisions for themselves about what is in their best interests,” rather than the administration or Trump “telling them what they should do’. .”

The Trump campaign did not immediately comment on Harris’ comments.

Trump said Wednesday that his “people” told him not to say he wanted to “protect women.”

“I said, ‘Well, I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not.’ I’m going to protect them,” Trump said Wednesday during his rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

When contacted Wednesday for comment on his remarks, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Harris “may be the first female vice president, but she has implemented dangerously liberal policies that have left women financially worse off and much less safe than we were four years ago. years ago under President Trump.”

“Women deserve a president who will secure our nation’s borders, remove violent criminals from our neighborhoods, and build an economy that helps our families thrive — and that’s exactly what President Trump will do,” Leavitt added.

Harris also spoke Thursday about President Joe Biden’s “garbage” comment from earlier this week, in which he appeared to criticize Trump supporters or a comedian who made racist jokes at Trump’s rally in New York, and echoed her position that ‘we should never do that’. criticizing people based on who they vote for.”

In his response to Biden’s comments, Harris pointed to Trump’s rhetoric about “the enemy within” and comparing the US to a “garbage bin.”

“He doesn’t understand that most people are exhausted by his rhetoric, exhausted by that approach, exhausted by Donald Trump’s approach of trying to divide our country and make Americans point fingers at each other,” she said. “They’re done with it and they’re ready to turn the page.”

Harris’ comments came before her rally in Phoenix. Her next campaign stops on Thursday are in Nevada, where she will hold rallies in Reno and Las Vegas.

The Sun Belt blitz comes as polls show a neck-and-neck race for the presidential election less than a week before Election Day.

When asked by NBC News what Harris thinks her late mother would say to her in the final days before the election, Harris smiled.

“Go beat him,” she said, laughing. “That’s probably what she would say. Yes, that’s my mother.’

Yamiche Alcindor reported from Phoenix and Megan Lebowitz from Washington, DC