Vice President Kamala Harris faced tough questions about how she’d pay for her economic plans, whether Democrats were too slow to enact border security measures, how she’d confront Russia over its war in Ukraine and more in a wide-ranging “60 Minutes” interview that aired Monday.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s sit-down with CBS comes amid a media blitz that is also putting Harris in front of friendlier interviewers with more targeted audiences. Her interview with Alex Cooper, host of the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast, went live Sunday. On Tuesday she’ll visit ABC’s “The View,” sit down with Howard Stern and appear on CBS’ “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert. Then, on Thursday, she’s set to participate in a Univision town hall.
With no more debates between Harris and former President Donald Trump currently scheduled, this slate of interviews could present the best opportunities for surprising and news-making moments in the final four-week sprint to Election Day.
Here are five takeaways from Harris’ sit down with “60 Minutes”:
Harris maintained migration is a “longstanding problem” when asked about President Joe Biden’s administration’s approach to immigration policies and refused to answer whether officials should’ve cracked down sooner.
From the outset, the Biden administration faced record migration in the Western Hemisphere, which was hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Over the last three years, US officials grappled with migrant surges at the southern border.
Asked why the administration didn’t crack down earlier, Harris cited an immigration bill proposed to Congress in early 2021 and slammed Republicans for tanking a recent bipartisan border bill after Trump urged them to reject the measure.
CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker asked: “But there was an historic flood of undocumented immigrants coming across the border the first three years of your administration. As a matter of fact, arrivals quadrupled from the last year of President Trump. Was it a mistake to loosen the immigration policies as much as you did?”
“It’s a longstanding problem. And solutions are at hand. And from day one, literally, we have been offering solutions,” Harris said.
Pressed on the record number of crossings and whether more action should’ve been taken sooner, Harris refused to answer, focusing instead on recent action that has resulted in a drastic drop in crossings and putting the onus on Congress to act.
“We need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem,” she said.
Harris said she would not meet bilaterally with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a solution to end the war in Ukraine.
“Ukraine must have a say in the future of Ukraine,” she said.
Harris said that there “will be no success in ending that war without Ukraine and the UN charter participating in what that success looks like.”
The vice president avoided answering whether she would support the effort to expand the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, to include Ukraine, saying she would “deal with if and when it arrives at that point.”
“Those are all issues that we will deal with if and when it arrives at that point. Right now, we are supporting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression,” Harris said.
She said if Trump were president, “Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now,” referring to the Ukrainian capital.
“He talks about, oh, he can end it on day one. You know what that is? It’s about surrender,” Harris said.
Harris met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House last month, where she reiterated her unwavering support for the country.
“As I have made clear on our six previous meetings and throughout Putin’s brutal aggression and war against Ukraine, my support to the people of Ukraine is unwavering,” Harris said. “I’ve been proud to stand with Ukraine – I will continue to stand with Ukraine, and I will work to ensure Ukraine prevails in this war, to be safe, secure and prosperous.”
Harris and Cheney’s alliance on display
The interview at one point featured Harris together in Ripon, Wisconsin – claimed to be the birthplace of the Republican Party – with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.
Cheney, who was ousted in a primary last year over her role in the House’s investigation into Trump supporters’ January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, endorsed Harris and spoke at a rally in the key swing state last week.
“I hope that if you had said to me four years ago, ‘Our Constitution is going to be under threat and it’s gonna be crucial for the parties to come together and to support Vice President Harris because she’ll defend the rule of law’ — I know I would’ve said, ‘That’s exactly what I’ll do,’” Cheney told CBS.
When asked if she’d imagined campaigning alongside Cheney four years ago, Harris responded warmly.
“That’d be great,” Harris said, as both her and Cheney laughed.
“She’s really diplomatic,” Cheney joked.
Later, it also featured Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has faced probing questions about past statements that had been dissected by Republicans and the press after he became the vice presidential pick.
He acknowledged making false claims about his military record and about being in Hong Kong during Tiananmen Square unrest. But he said those moments were “expressing emotion, telling a story, getting a date wrong,” as opposed to being “a pathological liar like Donald Trump.”
Still, Walz said Harris had encouraged him to choose his words more carefully.
“She said, ‘Tim, you know, you need to be a little more careful on how you say things,’ whatever it might be,” Walz said.
Trump backed out of his “60 Minutes” interview after his campaign had agreed to it and scheduled a sit-down at his Mar-a-Lago estate, CBS correspondent Scott Pelley said Monday night at the start of the nation’s most-watched newsmagazine’s broadcast.
Trump sat down with “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl in October 2020 and abruptly ended the interview when he apparently objected to Stahl’s questions. Trump told reporters in Wisconsin last week that he’d “like to get an apology” for that interview before sitting down for another one.
The former president has largely only taken questions from friendly interviewers, including Fox News, in recent weeks.
“If he is not going to give your viewers the ability to have a meaningful, thoughtful conversation, question and answer with you, then watch his rallies,” Harris told Whitaker.
“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. You will not hear about how he is going to try to bring the country together, find common ground,” she said. “And, Bill, that is why I believe in my soul and heart, the American people are ready to turn the page.”
CNN’s Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.
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