Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for a tense interview with Fox News where she immediately clashed with host Bret Baier over immigration as he pressed her on the Biden administration’s policies.
The pair repeatedly spoke over each other on the issue with the vice president at one point shooting back ‘you have to let me finish.’
The high-stakes interview took in the battleground state of Pennsylvania right after the vice president held a campaign event there Wednesday.
The interview, which aired on Fox News Channel’s Special Report, was Harris’ first sit down interview with network since taking office and comes amid pressure to do more unscripted appearances and interviews as the election nears.
Baier started out by asking Harris how many illegal immigrants she estimates have been released into the country during the Biden administration, but their heated interview quickly escalated.
‘Well, I’m glad you raised the issue of immigration because I agree with you, it is a topic of discussion that people want to rightly have,’ Harris said.
When Baier interrupted her to press about a specific number, their exchange got testy.
‘Bret, let’s just get to the point, okay? The point is that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired,’ Harris said.
Baier cut in that the Biden Homeland Security Secretary said six million people have been released into the country.
‘I’m not finished. I’m not finished,’ Harris said as they began to speak over each other.
Baier promised he was just getting to the full question as the vice president retorted she was just beginning to answer.
The longtime Fox News anchor pointed out that the Biden administration reversed a number of Trump border policies. He asked whether she regrets the decision to terminate the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy.
‘The first bill practically within hours of taking the oath was a bill to fix our immigration system,’ Harris said.
She pointed out it was offered to Congress before they worked on an infrastructure, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Chips and Science Act and more.
Baier cut in to name the specific act she was referring when Harris broke in ‘may I please finish? May I finish responding please? You have to let me finish.’
The pair continued to speak over each other with Harris heard saying ‘I am in the middle of responding to the point you’re raising, and I’d like to finish.’
Harris said that the issue has been a priority and their focus has been on ‘fixing a problem.’ She claimed they have done a number of things to address the asylum system, tighten penalties, and put in more resources.
Harris referenced the bipartisan immigration bill that is a piece of legislation she has brought up numerous times on the campaign trail and what it would have done. She also touted being the Attorney General of a border state prosecuting the trafficking of drugs, guns and humans.
That’s when they started speaking over each other again with Baier pointing out six Democrats voted against the deal while she slammed Trump for telling Republicans to kill the bill.
‘In this election, this is rightly a discussion that the American people want to have and what they want are solutions,’ Harris said forcefully.
The interview took another tense turn at that point when Baier confronted Harris naming a list of young women who were killed by illegal immigrants released during the Biden administration.
He called it a specific policy decision by her administration to release the men into the country.
‘Do you owe those families an apology?’ Baier asked.
‘Let me just say, first of all, those are tragic cases, and I can’t imagine the pain that the families of those victims have experienced, for a lost that should not have occurred,’ Harris responded, but she dodged answering the actual question.
She said it is true had a border security deal been passed nine months ago, it would be nine months with more agents and support at the border.
‘This election in 20 days will determine whether we have a president of the United States who actually cares more about fixing a problem even if it is not to their political advantage in an election,’ the vice president said.
Baier played sound from one of the mothers of a victim for the vice president blaming the Biden administration for the death of her daughter.
‘Do you owe them an apology?’ Baier reiterated.
‘I will tell you that I am so sorry for her loss. I’m so sorry for her loss – sincerely,’ Harris said, but she then said they need to talk about what is happening ‘right now’ and accused Trump of not wanting to ‘participate in solutions.’
When Baeir asked if she wanted to answer, Harris shot back angrily ‘I told you that I feel awful for what she and her family have experienced.’
The vice president also slammed the broken immigration system ‘transcending’ the Trump administration when Baier asked her when in her mind the situation at the border became a crisis.
In another heated exchange, Baier asked Harris why half the country supports Trump as she called him unfit to serve and dangerous.
‘This is an election for President of the United States, it’s not supposed to be easy,’ Harris said.
When Baier asked if his supporters are misguided or stupid, Harris rejected it.
‘I would never say that about the American people,’ she responded. She pointed out Trump ‘tends to demean and belittle and diminish the American people’ at his rallies. The 59-year-old also mentioned Trump has talked about the ‘enemy within.’
Baier played a clip of Trump responding to his Fox News colleague Harris Faulkner asking the ex-president about his talk of ‘enemy within’ during a town hall on Wednesday. But he did not play a clip of the president making his comments at rallies.
In the clip, Trump denied he was threatening anyone and accused his opponents of weaponization.
‘Bret, I’m sorry and with all due respect, that clip was not what he has been saying about the enemy within that he has repeated when he is speaking about the American people. That’s not what you just showed,’ Harris pushed back.
‘In all fairness and respect to you,’ the vice president continued. ‘You did not show that and here’s the bottom line, he has repeated it many times, and you and I both know that.’
The interview took place in Washington Crossing, PA after Harris held a campaign event there Wednesday afternoon as she courts Republican voters as the polls show the race is razor-thin in the state.
