In her inaugural formal interview with Fox News, Vice President Kamala Harris engaged in a heated discussion with anchor Bret Baier concerning immigration policies and previous positions she held during her 2019 presidential campaign, which she no longer supports.
Midway through the 30-minute interview, Baier posed a question to Harris that she had previously struggled to answer in more amiable settings, such as “The View” and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the prior week: how her presidency would differ from President Biden’s. On this occasion, Harris was prepared to respond, stating, “My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency. Like every new president that comes into office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas,” emphasizing her representation of a new generation of leadership.
Harris appeared on the network, known for its support of former President Donald Trump, aiming to connect with moderate Republicans. Earlier in the day, she had joined more than 100 Republicans, including former Trump administration officials, who have endorsed her.
Throughout the interview, Harris mentioned these endorsements and referred to Trump’s recent comments labeling Democrats as “the enemy within,” which he suggested might require military intervention.
In a previously aired town hall with women voters on Fox News, Trump reiterated the idea, stating, “It is the enemy from within, and they are very dangerous; they are Marxists and communists and fascists and they’re sick.” Baier shared a different segment of Trump’s response with Harris, where Trump maintained he was not issuing threats, claiming, “They’re the ones doing the threatening. They do phony investigations. I’ve been investigated more than Alphonse Capone was.”
This prompted an indignant response from Harris, who argued, “With all due respect, that clip was not what he has been saying about the enemy within,” raising her voice as she added, “You and I both know that he has talked about turning the American military on the American people, he has talked about going after people who are engaged in peaceful protest. He has talked about locking people up because they disagree with him. This is a democracy, and in a democracy, the President of the United States, in the United States of America, should be willing to handle criticism without saying he would lock people up for doing it.”
Karoline Leavitt, the National Press Secretary for Trump’s campaign, characterized the interview as a “train wreck,” accusing Harris of being “angry, defensive, and once again abdicating any responsibility for the problems Americans are facing.”
Conversely, the Harris campaign viewed the interview as a success. Brian Fallon, a senior campaign aide, remarked, “We feel like we definitely achieved what we set out to achieve in the sense that she was able to reach an audience that’s probably not been exposed to the arguments she’s been making on the trail. And she also got to show her toughness in standing tall against a hostile interviewer.”
During the interview, Harris attributed the failure of a bipartisan border security bill to Trump. On the subject of the federal government funding gender transition surgeries for transgender prisoners or detained migrants, an issue Trump has heavily targeted in his campaign ads against Harris, she stated that she would adhere to federal law. Harris highlighted that the Trump administration also complied with the same legislation.
“He spent $20 million on those ads trying to create a sense of fear in the voters because he actually has no plan in this election that is about focusing on the needs of the American people,” Harris said, describing the issue of gender transition surgeries for prisoners as “really quite remote” compared to the most significant challenges facing American voters.
