Vice President Kamala Harris for weeks was criticized for avoiding tough questions that came with long-form traditional media interviews.
In an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that aired on Monday evening, she faced many of them all at once.
Chief among them was whether Harris regretted the initial border policy under the Biden administration that allowed a historic swell of immigrants across the border.
“Was it a mistake to loosen the immigration policies as much as you did?” asked “60 Minutes” correspondent Brian Whitaker.
“It’s a long-standing problem, and solutions are at hand, and from day one, literally, we have been offering solutions,” Harris said, pointing to an early attempt to advocate for an immigration bill in Congress.
Whitaker, who noted that the border security issue had been ongoing for decades, tried twice more to pin down Harris. She did not concede a policy error on her part or on the part of President Joe Biden, but pointed to efforts by the administration from the day it took over from Donald Trump to work with Congress and win a comprehensive immigration solution. Harris also pointed to changes the administration has more recently put in place that significantly curbed encounters at the Southern border.
“Because of what we have done, we have cut the flow of illegal immigration by half, but we need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem,” she said.
It was just one of the searing questions that Whitaker formulated as he peppered Harris and, for a shorter time, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in advance of the November election. Harris and Walz have been cautious in their approach to sitting with traditional media, a strategy that has had some Democrats worry it could hurt them in the end. With 29 days until the election, the Harris campaign announced a media “blitz” that includes late-night show appearances.
Before the interview, the program noted that it was a decades’ long practice to air interviews of both presidential candidates in a special. But Trump, after initially accepting the invitation and having his campaign coordinate logistics, backed out. (In lieu of a segment on Trump, the program instead aired a feature on the fight in Maricopa County, Arizona, an important location in the upcoming election, where Republicans have pushed back against Trump’s allies advocating baseless conspiracies that he did not lose there in 2020.)
That meant it was Harris alone who sat to answer for her past statements, early positions and campaign promises on the program. On many of the questions, Harris deflected or sidestepped. That included whether she thought Ukraine should be part of NATO.
At one point, Harris was pressed on how she would pay to fund small business credits, child tax credits, housing assistance and other promises she’s made on the trail. Her initial response was to criticize Trump’s economic policies.
“I’m gonna make sure that the richest among us, who can afford it, pay their fair share in taxes. It is not right that teachers and nurses and firefighters are paying a higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations,” Harris said.
Whitaker pressed Harris, saying in the “real world” she wouldn’t get it through Congress — she disagreed.
He also asked Harris how she would answer Republicans’ contention that the public didn’t know her because she had changed her past positions so many times.
“In the last four years, I have been vice president of the United States. And I have been traveling our country. And I have been listening to folks and seeking what is possible in terms of common ground. I believe in building consensus. We are a diverse people. Geographically, regionally, in terms of where we are in our backgrounds,” Harris said. “And what the American people do want is that we have leaders who can build consensus.”
Harris also revealed a bit more about owning a gun, after she previously in a televised discussion with Oprah Winfrey said if someone broke into her home “they’re getting shot.”
Harris said only that she owned a “Glock” and that “of course I have” fired it “at a shooting range.”
Viewers did not witness Trump undergo a similar grilling because he had backed out of the interview and Harris was given an opening at the end to opine on what voters should take from his skipping it. Harris, as she has in the past, encouraged the public to watch Trump’s rallies and listen to his remarks.
“You’re gonna hear conversations that are about himself and all of his personal grievances. And what you will not hear is anything about you, the listener,” Harris said. “You will not hear about how he is gonna try to bring the country together, find common ground … that is why I believe in my soul and heart, the American people are ready to turn the page.”
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