Kamala Harris sat down for her first formal interview with Fox News on Wednesday, at times sparring with anchor Bret Baier over the border and her opponent, Donald Trump.
Harris and Baier kicked off the conversation with a heated exchange over immigration. The vice president hen wrapped their nearly 30-minute discussion with a call for Baier to focus the interview on a “full assessment of the facts.”
Baier first asked Harris how many “illegal immigrants” she estimates have entered the US during her tenure as vice president. They then entered a back-and-forth, talking over one another. Baier at one point interrupted, asking Harris for “just a number,” while the vice president later asked the anchor to let her finish.
Baier later asked Harris if she supports “using taxpayer dollars to help prison inmates or detained illegal aliens to transition to another gender.”
The question comes after a 2019 questionnaire filled out by Harris came to light. Her responses, which she gave while serving in the Senate, indicated she supported taxes being used to fund gender-affirming care for federal prisoners and detained immigrants.
Harris responded to Baier by pointing out that incarcerated people received gender-affirming healthcare under Trump.
“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.”
The vice president also distanced herself from President Joe Biden, telling Baier her presidency “will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.”
”Like every new president that comes into office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas, I represent a new generation of leadership,” Harris said.
As the interview came to a close, Harris highlighted Trump’s treatment of military personnel and their families.
“During Donald Trump’s administration, we had an American military base that was attacked, where American soldiers suffered traumatic brain injuries, and Donald Trump dismissed them as headaches,” she said. “Not to mention how Donald Trump has treated and talked about America’s military and military service people and calling them suckers and losers.”
Baier then interrupted, and Harris shot back that she would like to have a conversation “that is grounded in full assessment of the facts.”
“This interview is supposed to be about the choices that your viewers should be presented about this election, and the contrast is important,” she said.
Harris has been on a media blitz in recent days, most recently participating in a discussion with radio host Charlamagne Tha God on Tuesday.
Last week, Harris also appeared on CBS News’s 60 Minutes for an interview with Bill Whitaker. CBS also invited Trump to appear, but he declined and later baselessly accused the network of committing a crime, claiming they “sliced and diced” the interview.
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