(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris had no choice but to face the facts Wednesday as Fox News anchor Bret Baier took a bare-knuckle approach to her first interview on the network that the Trump campaign gleefully declared a “total, unmitigated disaster.”
Baier pressed an evasive Harris in Pennsylvania with pointed questions on an array of policy issues and the cognitive health of President Joe Biden, who she insisted was fit for office shortly before he dropped his reelection bid on July 21.
“Joe Biden, I have watched from the Oval Office to the Situation Room. And he has the judgement and the experiment—experience—to do exactly what he has done in making very important decisions on behalf of the American people,” Harris said before chiding the Special Report anchor that former President Donald Trump is on the ballot and Biden is not.
🚨 Kamala Harris REFUSES to acknowledge Joe Biden's cognitive decline while baselessly attacking President Trump's fitness.
"Joe Biden, I have watched from the Oval Office to the Situation Room. And he has the judgement and the experience to do what he has done…" pic.twitter.com/QeFFAIwUoT
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 16, 2024
Harris tried to shorten the exchange by showing up 15 minutes late and renegotiating the originally planned 30-minute timeslot. She arrived at 5:15 p.m., and the interview aired just after 6 p.m. unedited on Special Report.
The vice president, whom Biden put in charge of the crisis at the southern border, attempted to dodge the question when Baier led the interview by asking, “How many illegal immigrants would you estimate your administration has released into the country over the last three-and-a-half years?”
Baier: How many illegals would you estimate you're administration has released into the country?
Kamala: *ignores the question*
Baier: You're administration immediately reversed a number of Trump border policies… Looking back, do you regret it?
Kamala: *ignores again* pic.twitter.com/lQgMLOo0Gt
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 16, 2024
Harris likewise passed the buck on the open border when she told the Fox News anchor that she was not proud of the “immigration system,” skirting the blame on the Biden–Harris administration’s policies. She insisted the “immigration system” had issues predating Trump.
The Fox News interview was interspersed with relevant soundbites and graphics, including the Sept. 10 testimony of the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl brutally raped and murdered by illegal immigrants in June.
“Do you owe them an apology?” Baier asked Harris, referring to the Angel Families of victims of illegal immigrant crime.
Harris stopped short of taking responsibility and said, “I am so sorry for their loss.”
Kamala laughably claims "I've spent a significant part of my career going after people who present the safety of the American people and cross our border with the intent of doing us harm."
What a joke. She released THOUSANDS of criminals, killers, and rapists into our country. pic.twitter.com/F4pM9De7RJ
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 16, 2024
Baier corrected the Democrat nominee when she falsely suggested Trump allowed prisoners and illegal immigrants to receive sex-change surgeries at the taxpayer’s expense.
He told Harris “you would have a say as president” when she refused to provide a direct position on what she previously declared her support for.
🚨 Kamala will not say if she still supports taxpayer-funded sex change surgeries for prisoners and illegal aliens — for which she has repeatedly advocated.
(Also, no surgeries happened under President Trump. The first took place in 2022 — under Kamala) pic.twitter.com/XE8x5SaJ9M
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) October 16, 2024
Harris lost her cool after Baier pressed her on the weaponization of the Justice Department.
Despite claiming that Trump would “lock people up because they disagree with him,” he pointed out that the current administration had actively attempted to do just that.
NEW: Kamala Harris fumes after Fox News has a clip ready of Trump after she claimed he called Americans "the enemy within."
Kamala: Trump is the one who talks about an enemy within…
Baier: We actually asked that question to the former president today. Here it is.
Kamala:… pic.twitter.com/q6qHt6Q9QV
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) October 16, 2024
She said Americans should trust the “experts” who say her potential administration would be better on the economy than Trump.
Baier latched onto Harris saying voters want to “turn the page.” The Fox News host rolled footage from the Democrat nominee’s Oct. 8 appearances on The View and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, during which she admitted she did not know how her prospective presidency would differ from Biden.
“Let me be clear. My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency,” Harris, who turns 60 years old on Oct. 20, told Baier.
“And like every new president that comes into office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas,” she continued. “I represent a new generation of leadership.”
Behind the scenes of my interview with @VP Harris #foxnews pic.twitter.com/ThGK62KpfC
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) October 16, 2024
The interview ended at a hard break, with Baier later revealing to a panel that four of Harris’s advisers off-camera were demanding that she pull the plug.
WATCH: Bret Baier says Kamala's staff was urgently trying to end the Fox interview
"I'm talking, like four people, waving their hands like, 'It's gotta stop!" pic.twitter.com/bITnM8cCPo
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 16, 2024
Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called it a “TRAIN WRECK” in a follow-up statement.
“Kamala was angry, defensive, and once again abdicated any responsibility for the problems Americans are facing,” Leavitt said.
“She couldn’t give a straight answer to a single question because she has no answers,” Leavitt continued. “Kamala’s entire campaign is based on lies about President Trump. Kamala can’t handle the pressure of an interview with Fox News—she certainly can’t handle the pressure of being President of the United States.”
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer also published by the Daily Caller and The Federalist. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
