5 key takeaways from Kamala Harris’ ’60 Minutes’ interview

Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for an interview on ’60 Minutes’ on Monday, when she dodged or refused to get specific about her plans for the country.

With less than a month before the election, CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker repeatedly pressed Harris for details on how to pay for her economic proposals, on whether President Biden’s loose immigration policies were a mistake and how a Harris foreign policy might differ from Biden or former President Donald Trump. There were several moments when Whitaker had to ask follow-up questions after Harris did not directly answer his inquiries. 

Overall, the Democratic vice president did not differentiate herself much from her 2020 running mate, the sitting president of the United States. CBS said her Republican rival, former President Trump, backed out of an invitation to appear on ’60 Minutes,’ though the Trump campaign said there was never a formal agreement for Trump to appear on the program.

Here are some standout moments from the Harris interview.

1. Harris’ foreign policy would track with Biden’s

Whitaker asked Harris about the ongoing crises in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, with Israel under assault from Iranian proxies and Ukraine persevering in the fight against Russia’s invasion. In her answers, Harris did not do much to distinguish her foreign policy from that of the current administration.

On Israel, Harris echoed Biden’s call for the war with Hamas to end, though she acknowledged the Jewish nation’s right to defend itself after the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, when terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people and took 250 captives back to Gaza. 

‘I maintain Israel has a right to defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. This war has to end,’ Harris said.

Whitaker pointed out that although the United States has handed billions of dollars to Israel in military aid, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has resisted the Biden-Harris administration’s call for a cease-fire with Hamas. When asked if the U.S. holds no sway over Netanyahu, Harris dodged the question and stayed on message, emphasizing the current administration’s diplomatic efforts.

‘The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles,’ she said. 

Whitaker pressed, ‘but it seems Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.’ 

Harris declined to answer that point. ‘We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.’ 

On Europe, Harris stuck with Biden’s position that Ukraine must be involved in any resolution to the war with Russia. 

‘There will be no success in ending that war without Ukraine and the U.N. charter participating in what that success looks like,’ she said. 

In a definitive statement, Harris said she would not meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss an end to the war unless Ukrainian representatives were present. However, she was less specific on whether Ukraine should join NATO.

‘Those are all issues that we will deal with if and when it arrives at that point. Right now, we are supporting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression,’ Harris said. ‘Donald Trump, if he were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. He talks about, oh, he can end it on day one. You know what that is? It’s about surrender.’ 

2. Harris would not answer for Biden’s record on immigration

Whitaker confronted Harris on her apparent flip-flop on immigration, noting that she supported Biden’s efforts to reverse Trump’s strict policies even as a historic flood of illegal immigrants crossed the border. Now, the vice president has ’embraced President Biden’s recent crackdown on asylum seekers,’ he said. 

Whitaker asked, ‘If that’s the right answer, now, why didn’t your administration take those steps in 2021?’

Harris responded by pointing to congressional Republicans who backed out of a bipartisan agreement on a border security bill negotiated by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. ‘Donald Trump got word that this bill was afoot and could be passed. And he wants to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. So he told his buddies in Congress kill the bill. Don’t let it move forward,’ she said.

However, Whitaker pushed back on the vice president, observing that in the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, border arrivals quadrupled and there was no action from Biden or Harris.

‘Was it a mistake to loosen the immigration policies as much as you did?’

Harris did not answer the question but asserted that her administration has offered solutions ‘from day one, literally.’ 

‘We need Congress to be able to act to actually fix the problem,’ she said, again echoing Biden.

3. Harris would raise taxes to pay for her $3 trillion economic plan

To fight inflation, Harris said she intends to ask Congress to pass a federal ban on price gouging for food and groceries. She would expand the child tax credit to $6,000, give first-time homebuyers $25,000 in down payment assistance and offer generous assistance to people starting a small business. 

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that the total cost of her economic proposals would add $3 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade. 

‘How are you going to pay for that?’ asked Whitaker.

‘Okay, so the other economists that have reviewed my plan versus my opponent and determined that my economic plan would strengthen America’s economy, his would weaken it,’ Harris answered. ‘But my plan, Bill, if you don’t mind, my plan is about saying that when you invest in small businesses, you invest in the middle class, and you strengthen America’s economy. Small businesses are part of the backbone of America’s economy.’

Whitaker pressed again. ‘Pardon me, madam vice president. The question was, how are you going to pay for it?’

The Democratic candidate’s answer was that the rich must ‘pay their fair share in taxes.’ 

‘It is not right that teachers and nurses and firefighters are paying a higher tax rate than billionaires and the biggest corporations, and I plan on making that fair,’ Harris asserted. 

Whitaker followed up again, stating, ‘we’re dealing with the real world here’ and observing that Congress has shown no inclination to raise taxes. 

‘I disagree with you,’ Harris responded. ‘There are plenty of leaders in Congress who understand and know that the Trump tax cuts blew up our federal deficit.’ 

‘None of us, and certainly I cannot afford to be myopic in terms of how I think about strengthening America’s economy,’ she continued. ‘Let me tell you something. I am a devout public servant. You know that I am also a capitalist, and I know the limitations of government.’ 

4. Harris says she is a gun owner and that she owns a Glock

After a discussion on foreign policy, Whitaker took ‘a hard left turn’ and asked Harris about her recent admission that she is a gun owner.

‘I have a Glock, and I’ve had it for quite some time,’ Harris said after he asked what kind of gun she owns. ‘And, I mean, look, my background is in law enforcement, and so there you go.’

Harris served as the district attorney of San Francisco from 2004-2011 and was California’s attorney general from 2011-2017 before she was elected to the U.S. Senate and later selected as Biden’s 2020 running mate.

She told Whitaker she has fired her handgun ‘at a shooting range.’ 

5. Harris addresses voter uncertainty about her 

Though Harris had served in government for decades before becoming vice president, she remains a largely unknown figure in national politics. She did not run for president in the 2024 Democratic primary and only became a candidate two and a half months ago, when Biden decided to drop out of the race amid mounting pressure from Democrats concerned that he was too old to win. 

‘A quarter of registered voters still say they don’t know you,’ Whitaker told Harris.  They don’t know what makes you tick. And why do you think that is? What’s the disconnect?’

‘It’s an election, Bill,’ Harris replied. ‘And I take it seriously that I have to earn everyone’s vote. This is an election for President of the United States. No one should be able to take for granted that they can just declare themselves a candidate and automatically receive support. 

‘You have to earn it. And that’s what I intend to do.’