Fox News anchor Bret Baier alleged that during his interview with Vice President
Kamala Harris, her campaign attempted to reduce the allocated time for the discussion. Baier said, “You know, when the kicker in football, they call a timeout right before he's going to kick the field goal, they're icing the kicker.” Originally scheduled to begin at 5 pm for a 25 to 30-minute segment, the interview was delayed and cut down to around 20 minutes, Baier claimed.
Baier detailed the experience, noting that the Vice President arrived around 5.15 pm, forcing the team to push to meet their 6pm deadline.
“I could tell when we started talking that she was going to be tough to redirect without me trying to interrupt,” he remarked, recalling his previous interactions with President Obama where similar challenges arose, "I did this with President Obama. At one point. I just said, mister President, I know you like the filibuster. I just didn't even have the chance to sometimes redirect in those ways. I had a lot of other questions."
The Fox host also said that towards the end of the interview the Kamala team were signalling him to wrap up the interview quicker, because of which "so many topics were left untouched". “At one point, I had four people signaling that we needed to wrap up. It was a tough situation. In the end, I managed to get a few final questions in, but there were so many topics left untouched. She might want to consider doing more of these interviews.”
The interview, which aimed to reach Republican voters ahead of the upcoming election, became a heated exchange on key issues such as immigration and gender transition surgery. Harris frequently asked to finish her points, insisting, "may I finish," as Baier pressed her on contentious topics.
A notable moment in the half-hour discussion came when Harris addressed her relationship with President Biden, asserting, "My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency." She claimed to represent a "new generation of leadership" and promised "fresh and new ideas."
Responding to Baier's inquiries about the Biden administration's handling of immigration, Harris pointed to proposed legislation for increased border security, blaming Republicans for stalling progress. The interview also touched on Trump’s controversial remarks about the military and internal threats, prompting Harris to call out his rhetoric as damaging to the American public.
The interview was a strategic move for Harris, who has been seeking to differentiate herself from Biden after he stepped back from the race in July. Trump, reacting to the interview, called it "tough but very fair," while asserting that it highlighted Harris's perceived incompetence.