Harris undergoes a ’60 Minutes’ grilling as Trump sits it out

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 Monday evening, she faced many of them all at once.  

Chief among them was whether she regretted the initial border policy during 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?” “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker asked.

“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. 

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Whitaker, who noted that the border security issue had been ongoing for decades, tried twice more to pin Harris down. She did not concede a policy error on her part or on the part of President Joe Biden, pointing 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 made 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 worried some Democrats that 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 decadeslong practice to air interviews of both presidential candidates in a special. But Trump, after having initially accepted 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 election, where Republicans have pushed back against Trump 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 many of the questions, she deflected or sidestepped. They included whether she thought Ukraine should be part of NATO.

At one point, Harris was pressed about how she would pay to fund small-business credits, child tax credits, housing assistance and other promises she has made on the trail. Her initial response was to criticize Trump’s economic policies.

“I’m going to 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,” she said. 

Whitaker pressed Harris, saying that in the “real world” she would not get it through Congress. She disagreed. 

He also asked Harris how she would answer Republicans’ contention that the public did not 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 said in a televised discussion with Oprah Winfrey that 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.”

Harris was given an opening at the end to opine on what voters should take from Trump’s skipping an interview. Harris, as she has in the past, encouraged the public to watch his rallies and listen to his remarks. 

“You’re going to 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 going to 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.”