ess than one minute into a highly anticipated Fox News interview, Vice President Kamala Harris and host Bret Baier got into a fiery back-and-forth over immigration.
Harris has dominated the media circuit in recent weeks, following criticism that she avoided the media early on in her campaign.
Wednesday’s exchange became so contentious that Harris, the Democratic nominee, repeatedly had to ask Baier to let her finish speaking.
It started when Baier, the host of Special Report on Fox News, asked Harris how many undocumented immigrants she thinks the Biden administration “has released into the country over the last three and a half years.”
“Bret, let’s just get to the point,” Harris said. “The point is that we have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired.”
Baier then cut in, pointing out that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that 85 percent of those who have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border have been released.
“I’m not finished,” Harris said while Baier was speaking. “I’m not finished.”
“Let me just finish,” Baier responded. “I’ll get to the question, I promise you.”
“I was beginning to answer it,” Harris shot back. She went on to talk about the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which President Joe Biden introduced on his first day in office. The bill died in Congress and never made it to Biden’s desk.
“It was essentially a pathway to citizenship —” Baier began before Harris cut him off.
“May I please finish? May I finish responding, please?” she said.
“But this —” Baier said.
“You have to let me finish,” Harris repeated. “Please.”
“You had the White House and the House and the Senate and —” Baier
“I’m in the middle of responding to the point you’re raising, and I’d like to finish,” Harris said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Baier said.
Harris went on to emphasize her focus on reforming the immigration system.
“We recognized from day one that, to the point of this being your first question, it is a priority for us as a nation and for the American people and our focus has been on fixing a problem,” the Democratic nominee said.
She also pointed out former President Donald Trump‘s role in sinking a bipartisan immigration reform and foreign aid bill that Republicans had spent months advocating for.
In addition to appearing on primetime cable news, she has done interviews with shows that are outside the mainstream in an effort to reach more voters.
Several media outlets also reported this week that Harris’ campaign is in talks to appear on the popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, whose audience is primarily men.
