Kamala Harris Gets ’60 Minutes’ Grilling She Has Avoided Elsewhere

Vice President Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview was markedly different from her other planned media appearances.
Harris’ interview with CBS News’ Bill Whitaker, broadcast on Monday, was one of the toughest the vice president has undergone during her 2024 campaign as she faced questions on her economic plans, immigration and fracking.
Harris has been criticized, by Republicans but also Democrats, for not sitting for tough interviews, especially with more traditional media outlets, since she became the Democratic vice presidential candidate, or avoiding them altogether. Former President Donald Trump backed out of an appearance on 60 Minutes, citing a dispute over fact-checking.
Newsweek has contacted Harris’ campaign team for comment via email.
In August, Trump’s running mate JD Vance was using the hashtag #WheresKamala on X, formerly Twitter, to highlight what he considered was her lack of sit-down interviews with traditional media. The vice president was interviewed by CNN alongside her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, in August. She was also interviewed by MSNBC in September.
Former Barack Obama strategist David Axelrod recently told Politico that Harris needs to be presenting herself in as wide a range as possible, especially in the key swing states.
“It’s the most difficult oral exam on the planet for the most difficult job, and part of that is just that spontaneous — town halls, all kinds of interviews, and not just friendly interviews,” Axelrod said. “OTRs [on the roads] where you interact in a substantive way with people, all of those things are valuable. And I would be doing them if I were her.”
The 60 Minutes interview was aired as Harris has embarked on a media blitz, which aims to be more unscripted than what the campaign has offered so far. This includes an interview on the Call Her Daddy podcast, hosted by Alex Cooper, which aired Sunday. The podcast is popular among women, especially younger listeners, and discusses topics such as relationships, sex, and women’s empowerment.
Harris used her appearance on the podcast to discuss her stance on protecting abortion rights. Some Trump supporters on social media reportedly accused the interview of being “propaganda” for Harris’ campaign.
In the coming days, Harris will appear on The View, Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show, as well as on Late Night with Stephen Colbert. These talks shows are known for their light-hearted or comedic interview styles, rather than the hard-hitting questions a political candidate might get on news network programming, though Harris is also scheduled to take part in a town hall event, hosted by Univision, in front of a Spanish-speaking audience in Las Vegas, Nevada, to be aired on October 10.
The move for Harris to appear on podcasts and late-night shows over traditional news interviews is seen as a way for her to deliver more off-the-cuff and unplanned remarks, rather than her usual campaign policies.
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said while this could be a risk, it’s one the vice president may have to take in the final few weeks of the close election.
“Everything in politics is a risk. The risk you run now is people don’t understand what is really at stake here,” Carville told The Washington Post. “I would encourage them to be more aggressive and less risk averse.”
Rob Flaherty, Harris’ deputy campaign chairman, said that the vice president opting to sit for interviews beyond the mainstream press was a strong campaign strategy and a sign of the shifting media landscape.
“People have more content choices than ever,” Flaherty posted on X on Monday. “If you consume political info, you want to consume political info. Most of the remaining voters we need to talk to don’t.
“That trad press don’t get this sorta…speaks to the reason why this fact pattern exists!”
Among some of the tougher questions Harris faced during her 60 Minutesinterview was why the Biden administration didn’t move quicker to control the flow of migrant crossings at the southern border.
Whitaker asked if it was a mistake to “loosen the immigration policies as much as you did?”
“It’s a long-standing problem. And solutions are at hand. And from day one, literally, we have been offering solutions,” Harris said.
“We have cut the flow of illegal immigration by half. We have cut the flow of fentanyl by half. But we need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem.”
Harris was also asked about the Republican suggestion that voters do not know who she is as the vice president has changed her position in recent years. This includes no longer supporting a ban on fracking, which she backed during her 2020 election run. Harris has also distanced herself from her previous support of Medicare for All.
“In the last four years I have been vice president of the United States. And I have been traveling our country. And I have been listening to folks and seeking what is possible in terms of common ground. I believe in building consensus. We are a diverse people,” Harris said.
“Geographically, regionally, in terms of where we are in our backgrounds. And what the American people do want is that we have leaders who can build consensus. Where we can figure out compromise and understand it’s not a bad thing, as long as you don’t compromise your values, to find common-sense solutions.”
Former President Donald Trump cited a dispute over fact-checking during the proposed interview and a fallout over the 2020 interview with Lesley Stahl for why the Republican pulled out.
Host Scott Pelley said Monday that Trump was backing out of a “tradition for more than half a century” for major party presidential candidates to sit down with 60 Minutes in the October before an election.