Vice President Harris sat for a wide-ranging interview that aired on 60 Minutes on Monday, during which she was pressed for specifics on how she would pay for her economic plans and how she would bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
The interview with correspondent Bill Whitaker followed weeks of criticism from her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, that Harris has been unwilling to sit for difficult interviews with the press. Her appearance on 60 Minutes was part of a weeklong media blitz that will see Harris appear on programs that include The View, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Howard Stern Show.
On the economy, Harris was pressed on how she would pay for economic promises like an expanded child tax credit and tax breaks for first-time homebuyers and new businesses. A new report from the nonpartisan nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that Harris' estimated proposals would cost the government around $3.5 trillion, but Harris said she would offset that by raising taxes on corporations and the highest-earning Americans.
Her answer led interviewer Whitaker to push back, saying, “We’re dealing with the real world here.” Harris responded by saying she believes leaders in Congress are privately ready to listen to her.
“When you talk quietly with a lot of folks in Congress, they know exactly what I'm talking about,” she said, adding that there are “plenty of leaders in Congress who understand and know that the Trump tax cuts blew up our federal deficit.”
Harris was pressed on her border security stance
On the issue of immigration, Harris was asked why the Biden administration did not move sooner to crack down on illegal immigration — a recurring criticism on the campaign trail from Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
“The policies that we have been proposing are about fixing a problem, not promoting a problem,” Harris said. Illegal border crossings have fallen off by half, she said, “but we need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem.”
Harris was also asked about criticism from her Republican opponents that she has morphed from a relatively liberal candidate during her first run for the White House in 2020 to a more centrist candidate today. She responded by saying that her evolution is result of traveling the nation as vice president “and seeking what is possible in terms of common ground.”
“I believe in building consensus,” Harris said. “We are a diverse people, geographically, regionally, in terms of where we are in our backgrounds, and what the American people do want is that we have leaders who can build consensus, where we can figure out compromise and understand it's not a bad thing, as long as you don’t compromise your values.”
Harris says she wouldn't meet Putin without Zelenskyy
On foreign policy, Harris said she would not meet unilaterally with President Vladimir Putin of Russia about ending the war in Ukraine, suggesting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would need to be involved. “Ukraine must have a say in the future of Ukraine,” Harris said.
The vice president also shared new details about a surprising admission she made during her debate with Trump — that she is a gun owner.
She told Oprah Winfrey last month that she had long owned a gun for protection, because of her history in law enforcement. “If somebody breaks in my house, they’re getting shot.” She told Whitaker she owned a Glock and that she’d “had it for quite some time.” Asked if she had ever fired it, she said, “Yes, of course I have, at a shooting range.”
Harris’ appearance was part of a long tradition of presidential candidates sitting for interviews with 60 Minutes going back to 1968. The show said Trump had been scheduled to appear for an interview as well, but that his campaign canceled last week.
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