They Report -- Fox News' Bret Baier interviewed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris Wednesday evening in the vice president's first live appearance on the conservative news network. Scroll down center column trackbar for details.
Hamas Leader Killed -- Israeli authorities have positively identified the body of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, killed in an Israeli Defense Force attack on Gaza Wednesday, The New York Times reports. Sinwar, said to be in his 60s, was considered the lead architect of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Big question now is what effect Sinwar's death might have on cease fire talks led by the US.
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...You Decide – Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ first-ever interview on Fox News Wednesday certainly did nothing to snag the votes of Republicans or conservatives who have not already committed to voting for her instead of former President Trump. But did her 30-minute appearance, on Special Report with Bret Baier, help her with center-right independents and/or myriad other undecideds? Harris interrupted Baier’s interruptions several times in order to finish questions, which may have helped her with moderate female voters, NPR’s Morning Edition posits.
The interview did give the vice president a chance to retry a question she skirted past the much-friendlier The View on ABC-TV and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS; how would her presidency differ from Joe Biden’s?
“My presidency will not be a continuation of the Biden presidency,” Harris responded. “I represent a new generation of leadership.”
But Baier raised the question of who has been running the White House given President Biden’s cognitive issues.
“You told many interviewers that Joe Biden was on his game, then ran around circles on his staff. When did you first notice that President Biden’s mental faculties appeared diminished?” Baier asked.
“Joe Biden, I have watched from the Oval Office to the Situation Room,” Harris replied. “And he has the judgment and the experience to do exactly what he has done in making very important decisions on behalf of the American people.”
Harris was given the chance to attack Trump’s building threats to American democracy when Fox News ran a clip of Trump trying to turn the tables on the Democrats by claiming “they’re the ones doing the threats,” and comparing his suffering investigations with what happened to Alphonse Capone.
Harris countered that the clip did not properly characterize what Trump has been saying about “the enemy within.”
“You and I both know that he has talked about turning the American military on the American people, he talked about locking people up because they disagree with him,” Harris told Baier. “This is a democracy, and in our democracy, the president of the United States, in the United States of America, should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he would lock up people.”
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Meanwhile, on Univision – At a Town Hall broadcast by Univision Wednesday, Ramiro González, a New Jersey-born construction worker from Tampa, Florida, with Cuban heritage asked Donald J. Trump this: “I want to give you the opportunity to try and win back my vote. Your action and maybe inaction, during your presidency and maybe the last few years, sort of, was a little disturbing to me. What happened during January 6, and the fact that, you know, you waited so long to take action while your supporters were attacking the Capitol?”
Trump responded: “You had hundreds of thousands of people coming to Washington. They didn’t come because of me – they came because of the election – they thought the election was a rigged election and that’s why they came.”
González could be seen furrowing his brow and moving his head side-to-side, Newsweek reports, when Trump added this about January 6; “A day of love from the standpoint of millions – it’s like hundreds of thousands – it could have been -- the largest group I’ve ever spoken to before.”
That’s the hundreds of thousands who came to Washington because of they thought the election was rigged, not because of Trump.
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa