“I think he will lie”

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is preparing for the possibility that her Republican rival Donald Trump could mislead her and spread misinformation in their first in-person debate, she said in an interview broadcast Monday.

“I think he's going to lie,” the vice president said on the “Rickey Smiley Morning Show.”

Trump “is playing from this really old and hackneyed playbook, right?” Harris said in the interview recorded last Wednesday. “There's no lower limit for him as to how low he's going to sink, and we should be prepared for that.”

Smiley had asked Harris how she was preparing to deal with Trump's “attacks” and “temperament” during the debate hosted by ABC News, scheduled for Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET.

“We should be prepared that it is not a burden for him to tell the truth, and we should be prepared that he will probably tell many untruths,” she replied.

Harris' remarks to Smiley followed a campaign rally in New Hampshire where she emphasized her policies supporting small businesses. She told Smiley she wanted to point out that Trump “tends to fight for himself, not for the American people.”

“I think that will come out as the debate progresses,” Harris said.

“I expect that he, you know, I think he's going to lie.”

“He has a script that he has used in the past, whether it was, you know, his attacks on President [Barack] Obama or [former Democratic nominee] Hillary Clinton,” she added. “So we can expect that some of this could come to light.”

Tuesday night's 90-minute debate will be the first and possibly only time Trump and Harris face off in person before the Nov. 5 election.

For Democrats, this is a crucial second chance. A previous presidential debate in late June between Trump and President Joe Biden went so badly for the incumbent that he dropped out of the race weeks later and endorsed Harris as his successor.

Harris appeared to be closing the gap between Trump and Biden in the polls within weeks, but a New York Times-Siena College poll released Sunday showed Trump and Harris neck and neck, with voters saying they need to know more about the new Democratic candidate.