CNN —
Vice President Kamala Harris will discuss a wide range of topics, including how she will pay for her economic plan, whether Democrats are too slow to enact border security measures and how she will stand up to Russia over the Ukraine war. faced tough questions in “Minutes.” ” The interview aired on Monday.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s sit-down with CBS comes amid a media onslaught and will put Harris in front of friendly interviewers with a more targeted audience. Her interview with Alex Cooper, host of the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” was broadcast live on Sunday. On Tuesday, he will be on ABC’s “The View” to talk with Howard Stern and appear on CBS’ “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert. And he is scheduled to participate in a Univision town hall on Thursday.
With the currently scheduled debate between Harris and former President Donald Trump no longer scheduled, this series of interviews highlights some surprising news-making moments in the remaining four weeks until Election Day. This could be the best opportunity to create.
Here are five takeaways from Harris’ “60 Minutes” roundtable.
Asked about President Joe Biden’s approach to immigration policy, Harris insisted that immigration is a “long-standing problem” and declined to say whether authorities should have cracked down on it sooner.
From the outset, the Biden administration faced record population movements in the Western Hemisphere, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. For the past three years, U.S. authorities have been grappling with a surge of migrants at the southern border.
Asked why the administration didn’t crack down sooner, Harris pointed to the immigration bill proposed in Congress in early 2021 and the recent bipartisan accused Republicans of fudging border legislation.
asked CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker. “But the first three years of your administration saw a historic surge of illegal immigrants crossing the border. In fact, compared to last year under President Trump, the number of people entering the country has quadrupled. Was it a mistake to relax so much?
“It’s a long-standing problem, and the solution is right around the corner. And literally from day one, we’ve been providing the solution,” Harris said.
Asked about the record number of railroad crossings and whether more action should have been taken sooner, Harris declined to answer, instead focusing on recent actions that have resulted in a significant reduction in railroad crossings. and placed the onus on Congress to take action.
“We need to make sure that Congress can act to actually solve the problem,” she said.
Harris said she had no intention of holding bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a solution to end the war in Ukraine.
“Ukraine must have a say in the future of Ukraine,” she said.
“We will not succeed in ending that war unless Ukraine and the United Nations Charter participate in that success,” Harris said.
The vice president declined to say whether he supports efforts to expand the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to include Ukraine, saying, “If we get to that point, we’ll deal with it.”
“These are all issues that we will address if we get to that point. Right now, we stand behind Russia’s ability to defend Ukraine from unprovoked aggression,” Harris said.
If Trump were president, “Putin would be sitting in Kiev right now,” she said, referring to the Ukrainian capital.
“He’s talking about, oh, we can finish it on day one. You know what that is? It’s a matter of surrender,” Harris said.
Harris met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House last month and reiterated her unwavering support for the country.
“My support for the Ukrainian people is unwavering, as I have made clear in our last six meetings and through President Putin’s brutal invasion and war against Ukraine,” Harris said. “I am proud to support Ukraine. I will continue to support Ukraine and strive to help it win this war and be safe, secure, and prosperous.”
The Harris-Cheney alliance is on display.
The interview also featured Harris and former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney together in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party.
Cheney, who was ousted in last year’s primary over her role in the House investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, endorsed Harris and held rallies in key battleground states last week. gave a speech.
“Four years ago you said to me, “Our Constitution is going to be under threat. It’s important that all parties come together to support Vice President Harris because she will protect the rule of law.” “I know I would have said, ‘That’s exactly what I’m going to do,'” Cheney told CBS.
When asked if she ever imagined campaigning with Cheney four years ago, Ms. Harris responded warmly.
“That’s great,” Ms. Harris said, and she and Ms. Cheney laughed.
“She’s really diplomatic,” Cheney joked.
It then featured Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Since being selected as the vice presidential candidate, he has faced follow-up questions about his past comments from Republicans and the media.
He admitted that he had made false claims about his military record and his presence in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen massacre. But those moments aren’t “pathological liars like Donald Trump,” he said, but instead “expressing emotions, telling stories, getting dates wrong.”
Still, Walz said Harris encouraged her to choose her words more carefully.
“She said, ‘Tim, you should be a little more careful about how you say everything,'” Walz said.
CBS correspondent Scott Pelley said Monday night at the start of the nation’s most-watched newsmagazine that President Trump withdrew his “60 Minutes” interview after the Trump campaign agreed to do so. He said he planned a sit-in at Largo’s mansion. .
President Trump spoke with 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl in October 2020 and abruptly ended the interview after apparently objecting to Stahl’s questions. President Trump told reporters in Wisconsin last week that he would like to “get an apology” for that interview before his next one.
The former president has taken few questions from friendly interviewers in recent weeks, including from Fox News.
“If he’s not going to engage his viewers in meaningful, thoughtful conversations and Q&A, then you should watch his rallies,” Harris told Whitaker.
“You’re going to hear a conversation about himself and all of his personal grievances. And what you don’t hear isn’t about you, the listener. “You’re not going to hear about how we’re trying to bring the country together and find common ground,” she said. “And Bill, that’s why I believe in my soul and my heart that the American people are ready to turn the page.”
CNN’s Aaron Perish contributed to this report.
