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 says Congress must act on border security
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.
No one-on-one meeting with Putin
Big Sal
Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/07/politics/takeaways-kamala-harris-60-minutes/index.html