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Sparks fly when Kamala Harris does her very first Fox interview

Harris calls Trump a threat and distances himself from Biden in Fox interview

Democratic White House candidate Kamala Harris has conducted her first-ever interview with Fox News, repeatedly clashing with the host over transgender prisoners, illegal immigration and President Biden’s mental fitness.

During the combative 25-minute sit-down, the US vice president and Bret Baier interrupted each other frequently, with Harris at one point saying: “I am in the process of responding to the point you are making and I would like to conclude.”

Her foray into a network that houses some of her most outspoken media critics comes as polls show a majority of male voters back her Republican rival, Donald Trump, ahead of next month’s election, and that this gender gap affects even its most important electoral elections. coalition, including younger voters, blacks and Hispanics.

Trump, meanwhile, appeared on Fox on Wednesday, at a town hall-style event with an all-female audience, as he worked to address his own political vulnerability toward female voters.

Harris challenged to apologize

The vice president’s interview started about immigration, with Baier playing her an emotional clip featuring the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl who was killed by a migrant who crossed the U.S. border illegally and was released from the country. detention.

When asked if she should apologize to the families of Americans killed by illegal immigrants, Harris said, “I’m so sorry for her loss.”

“These are tragic cases,” she added. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Baier also asked about her 2019 position that border crossings should be decriminalized. This is one of many issues where the vice president has been accused of fainting.

Harris said: “I don’t believe in decriminalizing border crossings and I haven’t done that as vice president, and I wouldn’t do that as president.”

She then accused Trump of persuading Republicans in Congress to agree to a border deal earlier this year, saying, “He preferred to tackle a problem rather than solve a problem. ”

Gender surgery for prisoners

Harris was asked about taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgery for prisoners, a policy she has supported in the past.

Asked whether as president she would advocate for taxpayer money to be used for that purpose, she said, “I will follow the law.”

When asked for more details, she said such operations were available to prisoners during Trump’s presidency.

However, no transgender surgeries took place in the federal prison system while Trump was president.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons told BBC Verify that two federal prisoners have undergone gender reassignment surgeries – the first in 2022 and the second in 2023.

When Harris ran for president of the Democratic Party in 2019, she checked a box on a civil rights organization questionnaire saying that as president she would use her authority to ensure transgender-identifying detainees in prisons and immigration facilities have access would receive “treatment related to gender transition, including all necessary surgical care.”

The Harris campaign has said this is “not what she is proposing or committed to” in the 2024 election.

Harris is trying to distance herself from Biden

After Fox played a clip from an interview she gave last week saying she wouldn’t change “a thing” about the Biden-Harris administration’s actions, Harris went further than before in her efforts to put some distance between herself and her boss.

“Let me be very clear: my presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency,” she said on Wednesday, without elaborating.

Baier pressed Harris on her belief that American voters don’t want to go “back” to Trump, and whether people who continue to support the former president are “stupid” or “misinformed.”

“I would never say that about the American people,” Harris replied.

Baier also pressed her on why one of her campaign promises is to “turn the page” if she has been vice president for more than three years.

Harris turned to criticizing Trump.

Harris sidesteps the question about Biden’s mental state

Harris dodged questions from Baier about Biden’s mental state.

Asked when she first noticed that Biden’s mental abilities “seemed diminished,” Harris said: “Joe Biden, I watched the Situation Room from the Oval Office, and he has the judgment… and the experience to do exactly what he did. done in making very important decisions on behalf of the American people.”

Addressing the issue further, Harris responded: “Joe Biden is not on the ballot, and Donald Trump is.”

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