Washington, D.C.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris clashed with Fox News’s Bret Baier Wednesday night (Oct 17), as she appeared on the channel labelled as ‘pro-Republican’ by the US media. Within a few minutes into the interview, Harris was back to her classic “May I please finish, you have to let me finish” dialogue.
‘Broken immigration system’
During the interview, Harris, who was appointed as ‘Border Czar’ under the Joe Biden administration, admitted the USA’s immigration system was ‘broken’.
“The point is that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired,” said Harris. “So, your Homeland Security Secretary said that 85 per cent of apprehensions,” Mr Baier interjected. “I'm not finished. We have an immigration system,” Harris shot back.
Vice President Harris: Within hours of taking the oath, we introduced a bill to fix our broken immigration system. It was not taken up
Fox host: *interrupts*
Vice President Harris: May I finish responding to you? I supported a bill by some of the most conservative members of… pic.twitter.com/48dpkPzr6h
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 16, 2024
“It's a rough estimate that 6 million people have been released into the country,” the Fox News anchor cut Harris off again.
“And let me just finish. I'll get to the question. I promise you. I was beginning to answer,” Harris pleaded.
“We recognized from day one that to the point of this being your first question, it is a priority for us as a nation and for the American people. Our focus has been on fixing a problem. From day one, then, we have done a number of things, including to address our asylum system and put more resources, getting more judges, what we needed to do to tighten up penalties and increase penalties for illegal crossings, what we needed to do to deal with points of entry between border, entry points,” she said.
Donald Trump ‘Unstable’
Harris took the opportunity to attack her rival, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, calling him unstable" and questioning the 78-year-old former president's fitness for office.
"He has talked about turning the American military on the American people. He has talked about going after the people who are engaged in peaceful protest. He has talked about locking people up because they disagree with him," she said.
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"He is unstable, and we should all be concerned," she told Baier.
‘Not a continuation of Joe Biden’s policies’
Harris also tried to do same damage control after last week, saying that she couldn’t do much different from the unpopular democratic leader over the last four years.
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“My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency,” Harris said. “Like every new president that comes into office, I will bring my life experiences and my professional experiences and fresh and new ideas.”
(With inputs from agencies)