Vice President Kamala Harris criticized for weeks to avoid the difficult questions that come with lengthy traditional media interviews.
In an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that aired Monday night, he confronted many of them at once.
Chief among them was whether Harris regretted the Biden administration’s original border policies that allowed for a historic surge in immigrants crossing the border.
“Was it a mistake to loosen immigration policy as much as you did?” “60 Minutes” reporter Brian Whitaker asked.
“This is a long-standing problem and the solutions are close at hand, and we’ve been offering solutions since day one, literally,” Harris said, pointing to an early attempt to defend an immigration bill in Congress.
Noting that the border security problem has been going on for decades, Whitaker made two more attempts to pursue Harris. He did not acknowledge a policy mistake by himself or President Joe Biden, but pointed to the administration’s efforts since taking over from Donald Trump to work with Congress and win a comprehensive immigration solution. Harris also pointed to recent changes the administration has implemented that significantly limit encounters at the southern border.
“Because of what we’ve done, we’ve cut the flow of illegal immigration in half, but we need Congress to really address the problem,” he said.
It was just one of the burning questions Whitaker put to Harris and the shorter-term Minnesota governor, Tim Walsh, ahead of the November election. Harris and Walz have been cautious in their approach to sitting down with the traditional media, a strategy some Democrats worry could end up hurting them. Twenty-nine days before the election, the Harris campaign announced a media “blitz” that included late-night talk show appearances.
Before the interview, the program noted that it is a decades-long practice to broadcast interviews of both presidential candidates in a special program. But Trump backed out after initially accepting the invitation and coordinating the logistics of his campaign. (Instead of a segment on Trump, the program aired a story about the fight in Maricopa County, Arizona, a key seat in the upcoming 2020 election, where Republicans pushed back against allies who advocated baseless conspiracies that Trump did not lose there.)
This meant that it was only Harris who sat down to answer for his past statements, first positions and campaign promises on the program. Harris deflected or sidestepped many of the questions. This included whether he thought Ukraine should be part of NATO.
At one point, Harris was stuck on how to pay to fund small business loans, child taxes, housing assistance and other promises he made along the way. His first response was to criticize Trump’s economic policy.
“I will make sure that the wealthiest among us who can afford it pay their fair share in taxes. “It’s not right that teachers, nurses and firefighters pay higher taxes than billionaires and the biggest corporations,” Harris said.
Whitaker pressed Harris that in the “real world” he couldn’t get it from Congress — he disagreed.
He also asked Harris how he would respond to Republicans’ contention that the public doesn’t recognize him because he has repeatedly reversed his past positions.
“For the last four years, I have been the vice president of the United States. And I have traveled our country. I listen to the people and look for what is possible in terms of a common language. I believe in consensus building. We are a diverse people. Geographically, regionally, in terms of where we are in our past,” Harris said. “What the American people want is for us to have leaders who can build consensus.”
Harris opened up a bit more about owning a gun after he previously said in a televised discussion with Oprah Winfrey whether he had broken into someone’s home. “They get shot.”
Harris said he only owned a Glock and that “of course” I shot it “at the range.”
Viewers didn’t get to witness Trump go through a similar grilling, as he backed out of the interview, and Harris was eventually given an opening to weigh in on what voters should take away from his jump. Harris, as in the past, encouraged the public to watch Trump’s rallies and listen to his words.
“You will hear conversations about himself and all his personal grievances. And what you won’t hear is nothing about you, the listener,” Harris said. “You’re not going to hear how he’s going to try to bring the country together, to find common ground … so I believe in my spirit and in my heart, the American people are ready to turn the page.”