Five Pivotal Moments from Kamala Harris’s Intense Fox News Interview

Immigration Showdown

Baier kicked off with the contentious issue of immigration, a major concern for many Republican voters. He pressed Harris to estimate how many undocumented immigrants the Biden administration had "released into the country" and asked if she would apologize to families of women killed by undocumented immigrants. Baier also played a video of a woman holding the Biden administration responsible for her daughter's death.

“I’m so sorry for her loss—sincerely,” Harris said, expressing empathy. She acknowledged that the U.S. immigration system needed to be “fixed,” but emphasized that Trump had blocked a bipartisan border security bill, portraying him as someone who “preferred to run on a problem rather than solve it.” Harris also clarified, “I do not believe in decriminalizing border crossings, and I haven’t done that as vice president, nor will I as president.”

Throughout the exchange, Baier frequently interrupted, which Harris pointedly addressed several times. At one point, as they spoke over each other, she firmly said, “You have to let me finish, please,” and added, “I’m in the middle of responding to the point you’re raising, and I’d like to finish.”

Gender-Affirming Surgery for Prisoners

Baier played a Trump campaign ad featuring remarks from Harris’s earlier career supporting taxpayer-funded gender-affirming surgeries for prison inmates. He questioned whether she still stood by that stance.

Harris responded, “I will follow the law, and it’s a law that Donald Trump followed.” She explained that under Trump’s administration, these surgeries were allowed on a medical-necessity basis in federal prisons. Harris accused Trump of hypocrisy, comparing the ad to “throwing stones from a glass house,” and said he was trying to “instill fear in voters,” calling the issue “remote” for most Americans.

Baier countered by mentioning that Trump’s aides denied he ever endorsed the policy, and he pressed Harris on whether she still supported using public funds for it. Harris avoided a direct answer, instead pointing out that Trump would rather spend money on that ad than address pressing issues affecting Americans.

What She Would Do Differently from Biden

Baier pressed Harris on how her policies would differ from President Biden’s, playing a clip from her recent appearance on ABC’s The View, where she said there was “not a thing that comes to mind” she would do differently than Biden. Later in the same interview, she promised to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected.

He referenced one of her campaign slogans, which calls for the nation to “turn the page,” and asked: “You’ve been vice president for 3½ years. What are you turning the page from?”

Harris took a firmer stance than before, stating, “Let me be very clear, my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.” She emphasized that she had not spent most of her career in Washington, and would bring her own unique personal and professional experiences, along with “fresh and new ideas,” to the White House.

Trump’s Rhetoric

Harris became passionate while debating Trump’s rhetoric with Baier, arguing that it had left much of the public feeling “exhausted.”

Baier responded by asking: “If he’s as bad as you say, why is half of the country now supporting him?” He followed up by questioning whether she believed Trump’s supporters were “misguided” or “stupid.”

Harris responded by saying she would “never say that about the American people,” and added, “He’s the one who talks about an ‘enemy within’ … suggesting he would turn the American military against the American people.”

Baier then played a clip he described as Trump’s response to that claim—an earlier Fox town hall where Trump accused the government of conducting “phony investigations” against him.

Harris criticized Fox for selectively using the video. “I’m sorry, with all due respect, that clip doesn’t reflect what he’s been saying about the ‘enemy within’ that he has repeated … That’s not what you just showed.”

She continued, “You and I both know that he has talked about turning the American military against the American people. … He has spoken about locking people up simply because they disagree with him.”

Biden’s Mental Acuity

Baier then shifted the conversation, asking Harris when she first noticed that Biden’s “mental faculties appeared diminished” and why she had previously stated that he was capable of continuing the role of president before he withdrew from the race.

Harris didn’t directly address the question, instead stating that she had “observed him in the Oval Office and the Situation Room, and he has the judgment and experience to make the critical decisions he’s made on behalf of the American people.”