Kamala Harris’ Fox News Interview Was a Testy Exchange With Interruptions From Bret Baier
Vice President Kamala Harris opened her first interview on Fox News with a heated exchange with host Bret Baier on Wednesday evening, as he repeatedly interrupted her answer to his question regarding the Biden administration’s handling of what he called “illegal” migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“How many illegal immigrants would you estimate your administration has released into the country over the last three-and-a-half years?” the Special Report With Bret Baier host asked Harris at the top of the one-on-one interview.
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Harris thanked him for the question because, she said, it’s an important matter for a number of voters in the 2024 Election. She then told Baier, “You know what I’m going to talk about,” before she was interrupted by the host, who demanded an estimate from the Democratic presidential candidate.
“But do you — just — a number. Do you think it’s 1 million, 3 million?” he asked.
“Bret, let’s just get to the point,” Harris responded.
The two continued to spar as Harris attempted to answer the question, which is a top issue for many in this election cycle, but the Fox News host refused to allow her to speak.
“You have to let me finish,” she said at one point, evoking her famous shut-down of Mike Pence’s interruptions during the 2020 vice presidential debate when she told him, “I’m speaking.”
Later, Baier questioned if she supports “using taxpayer dollars to help prison inmates or detained illegal aliens to transition to another gender.” She answered in the affirmative on the matter when filling out a questionnaire as a senator, and this has become a talking point of conservatives as Harris comes within reach of the presidency.
“I will follow the law, and it’s a law that Donald Trump actually followed, you’re probably familiar with it now,” Harris said. “It’s a public report that under Donald Trump’s administration, these surgeries were available on a medical necessity basis to people in the federal prison system.”
As the interview closed, Harris touched on her rival’s harsh statements about and insults toward U.S. military personnel, and commented on the one-sided nature of the interview with the Fox host.
“I would like that we would have a conversation that is grounded in a full assessment of the facts,” Harris told Baier. “This interview is supposed to be about the choices that your viewers should be presented about this election, and the contrast is important.”
It was questioned why Harris would bother with a sit-down interview at Fox News. Ahead of the interview — the first Fox News interview with a Democratic presidential candidate in eight years — Harris’ spokesman told the Associated Press why the campaign was giving it a shot.
Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams had said, “The vice president, Governor Walz and our campaign believe it is important to speak to all Americans, wherever they are getting their information or entertainment, so they can hear directly from us — not through a filter — who Vice President Harris is, what she stands for and what she’s running to do.”
After the sitdown, on Thursday, Harris campaign communications director Brian Fallon told a press pool of reporters that the interview accomplished what they had set out to do.
“I think there’s a good number of independents and Haley-style Republicans who are very open to voting for VP Harris and that’s why we are open to doing events with Republicans and on Fox News,” said Fallon. “We feel like we definitely achieved what we set out to achieve in the sense that she was able to reach an audience that has probably been not 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.”
Oct. 17, 10:20 a.m. Updated to include Brian Fallon’s comments on Thursday.
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