Vice President Kamala Harris: The 2023 60 Minutes Interview Transcript

Israel has begun. What Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls the second stage of the war by expanding its military ground operations in Gaza. We spoke with Vice President Kamala Harris this past week as the Biden administration was trying to balance Israel’s need to retaliate against Hamas with the urgent need to get relief to the Palestinian people. Vice President Harris told us she’s also involved in the administration’s efforts on the war in Ukraine, as well as countless intractable problems, including gun violence at home. But with the Middle East on a razor’s edge. We started our conversation there.

The story will continue in a moment.

How close is this to becoming a regional conflict that could draw in US troops?

We have absolutely no intention, nor do we have any plans to send combat troops into Israel or Gaza.

Vice President Harris told us the US is not telling Israel what to do, but is providing advice, equipment and diplomatic support.

A terrorist organization, Hamas, slaughtered hundreds of young people at a concert. By most estimates, at least 1400 Israelis are dead. Israel, without any question, has a right to defend itself. That being said, it is very important that there be no conflation between Hamas and the Palestinians. The Palestinians deserve equal measures of safety and security, self-determination and dignity, and we have been very clear that the rules of war must be adhered to, and that there be humanitarian aid that flows.

She told us the US wants to keep the conflict from escalating, but that’s proving difficult. In the last two weeks, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, both proxies of Iran have launched missiles. Rockets and drones against Israel, and Iranian backed militias have fired on US troops stationed in Iraq and Syria. In response, the US launched airstrikes against Iranian weapons facilities in Syria. If that weren’t enough of a signal to Iran and other adversaries, the Pentagon has also deployed two imposing aircraft carrier strike groups to the region.

(02:38)
And what’s the message to Iran?

Don’t.

As President Biden said, “Just don’t.”

Exactly. One word. Pretty straightforward.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel, the vice President says she has spoken with President Isaac Herzog of Israel and joined President Biden on calls with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. President Joe Biden told us in a statement, “This is as high stakes and complex a situation as it gets, and Kamala is my partner in all of it.” He told us Harris’s advice and counsel are invaluable.

(03:20)
When he was vice president, Mr. Biden famously said that he wanted to be the last person in the room with President Obama. Do you have that relationship with President Biden?

I do.

You do?

I do. And I take that responsibility quite seriously.

How often do you meet with him?

Multiple times a day, quite often, unless he or I are traveling.

They’re in total agreement. The US must stand with Israel and Ukraine, two democracies under attack.

We are as committed to Ukraine as we’ve always been, to authorize additional aid to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression That is not going to waver.

Does this war in the Middle East put Ukraine on a back burner?

Not for us. No. It does not put them on a back burner at all.

Vice President Harris has visited 19 countries and met with more than 100 world leaders, but lately she has been the administration’s point person on domestic priorities, traveling the country, talking up the Democrats’ key issues before the 2024 election, issues she hopes will fire up the base but are bound to inflame the GOP. She went to North Carolina to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

How dare they attack our fundamental rights? How dare they attack our freedom?

In Virginia, it was guns.

Our nation is being torn apart by gun violence.

We joined the vice president and second gentlemen, Doug Emhoff on Air Force 2 for a trip to Las Vegas. It was five days after the terror attack on Israel.

Welcome onboard.

Thank you very, very much.

Welcome onboard.

While in the air, the vice president joined a secure video call with the president and their national security teams to discuss measures to keep the homeland safe. Once on the ground in Las Vegas, Vice President Harris went to the College of Southern Nevada, the eighth stop on her Fight For Our Freedoms College Tour.

Because you voted, Joe Biden is president of the United States, and I am vice president of being, because you voted.

But nationally, the Biden-Harris administration is not generating the kind of enthusiasm she’s seeing on her tour. A recent CBS poll found that at the beginning of President Biden’s term, 70% of young people, people under 30 said he was doing a good job. Now, it’s less than 50%. Why is that? What’s going on?

If you poll how young people feel about the climate and the warming of our planet, it polls as one of their top concerns. When we talk about what we are doing with student loan debt, polls very high. The challenge that we have as an administration is we got to let people know who brung it to them. That’s our challenge. But it is not that The work we are doing is not very, very popular with a lot of people.

She blames the disconnect in part on lack of media coverage. Still, the vice president herself is not very popular now. Just 41% of adults told CBS news, they approve of the job she’s doing. About the same for President Biden. We talked to her the day before the carnage in Maine, but she had told us issues like mass shootings are more important than poll numbers.

(07:09)
You have a portfolio that includes gun violence, the root cause of migration. These are some of the most intractable issues facing the country.

We’ve done some of the most significant gun safety laws in 30 years, but we still need an assault weapons ban. It doesn’t have to be this way. There was assault weapons ban at one time. It expired. Let’s renew it.

Most Americans say that they don’t think you’re doing a good job on the border, you and the administration. The number of people trying to cross the US southern border is at an all time high.

It’s no secret that we have a broken immigration system. Short term, we need a safe, orderly, and humane border policy. And long term, we need to invest in the root causes of migration. But the bottom line, Congress needs to act. Come on, participate in the solution instead of political gamesmanship.

If politics is a game, Kamala Harris has proven herself to be a savvy player, forging a career that has gone from one first to another. The child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father, she was the first woman district attorney for San Francisco, the first woman to serve as California’s Attorney General, the first woman of color elected senator from California.

So help me God.

And the first woman and woman of color to be elected vice president of the United States.

(08:42)
Being in that unique position, being that first, does that bring added pressure?

No doubt. No doubt. My mother, she would say, “Kamala, you may be the first to do many things. Make sure you’re not the last.” And among the responsibilities that I carry and maybe impose on myself, that is one of them.

(09:05)
So this was-

She showed us around the vice president ceremonial office.

I brought in this bust of Thurgood Marshall, and I always have him over my right shoulder in the drawer here.

The desk where previous vice presidents left their signatures.

Al Gore, Quayle, Cheney, Harry Truman.

Some of these men went on to become president, but Kamala Harris told us she is focused on getting the Biden-Harris ticket reelected next year. The GOP is using her low poll numbers and President Biden’s age as a battering ram, and some Democrats are growing worried.

(09:45)
We were talking to some democratic donors, and they have told us that should something befall President Biden and he is not able to run, that there would be a free for all for who would run as president. You are in the spot, that that would be a natural for you to step up. But we’re hearing from donors that they would not naturally fall into line. Why is that?

Well, first of all, I’m not going to engage in that hypothetical because Joe Biden is very much alive and running for reelection. So there we are.

But you do know that is a concern, and a legitimate concern, I would say.

I hear from a lot of different people, a lot of different things. But let me just tell you, I’m focused on the job. I truly am. Our democracy is on the line, Bill. And I frankly, in my head, do not have time for parlor games when we have a president who is running for reelection. That’s it.

(10:50)
Joe Biden.

Conventional wisdom is that most presidential elections are won or lost on the economy. And while inflation has been coming down, prices for basics like food and shelter remains staggeringly high.

We came into office during the height of a pandemic, record unemployment. And because of our economic policies, we now are reducing inflation. We have created over 14 million new jobs. We’ve created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs. Wages are up. And so we’ve seen great progress.

Considering what you are laying out as your achievements, you have the current front runner for the GOP, Donald Trump, facing, what, 91 criminal charges?

I’ve lost count.

Yet the Biden-Harris ticket is running neck and neck with Donald Trump. Why are you not 30 points ahead?

Well, I’m not a political pundit, so I am not going to speak to that. But what I will say is this, when the American people are able to take a close look at election time on their options, I think the choice is going to be clear. Bill, we’re going to win. Let me just tell you that. We’re going to win. And I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but we will win.

You say that with such conviction.

I have no doubt, but I also have no doubt it’s going to be a lot of work and everyone’s going to have to participate. This is a democracy.

Democracy, she said that word often during our interview. Despite the criticism and low poll numbers, former prosecutor Kamala Harris told us she’s prepared to trust the verdict of the American people. Do you have to ask yourself, why are people seeming not to hear our message?

I look at it more as let’s keep getting out there. And as with any election, we got to make our case to the American people. That’s part of our responsibility. And that’s this process and that’s what it is. And that’s a fair process.