Fact check: Kamala Harris’s interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier | US Election 2024 News

In a ceaselessly contentious, generally testy alternate, Vice President Kamala Harris went on Fox Information and fielded anchor Bret Baier’s questions on immigration, the financial system and her coverage variations together with her Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump, in addition to her boss, President Joe Biden.

Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, did the interview, her first-ever on Fox, on October 16 as a part of her home-stretch election interview blitz.

Baier requested Harris what number of migrants had been launched into the nation beneath the Biden-Harris administration, how she would scale back the rely and why a few of her stances had shifted since her 2019 presidential marketing campaign. He requested Harris whether or not immigrants illegally within the US ought to qualify for driver’s licences, free tuition or healthcare, saying her working mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, had permitted legal guidelines that did this.

Harris, in the meantime, known as Trump unfit to serve, and stated lots of his former advisers had stated the identical. She additionally stated his plans would weaken the financial system, however hers would strengthen it.

Harris additionally pointedly stated her path would differ from Biden’s. “My presidency won’t be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency,” she said. “And like each new president that comes into workplace, I’ll convey my life experiences, my skilled experiences, and contemporary and new concepts.”

We fact-checked a number of of Harris’s claims and the claims that Baier introduced up.

Tim Walz signed legal guidelines to make immigrants eligible for driver’s licences, tuition scholarships, healthcare

Baier stated Harris’s working mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, signed into state legislation provisions “permitting immigrants within the nation illegally to use for driver’s licences, to qualify without spending a dime tuition at universities, to be enrolled in free well being care”.

Largely True. Walz signed a invoice in 2023 that lets individuals in Minnesota, no matter immigration standing, apply for a licence or ID card. To get a licence, individuals should meet sure necessities. Walz stated the invoice would make roads safer as a result of it ensured drivers within the state are licensed and carry insurance coverage.

Walz signed one other invoice that created a scholarship program to cowl tuition prices at Minnesota public faculties and universities for college kids whose family revenue is lower than $80,000 a yr. College students who’re illegally within the US can apply if they’ve attended a Minnesota faculty for at the least three years and graduated or obtained a GED certificates in Minnesota.

Walz additionally signed laws that permits immigrants who’re within the nation illegally to enrol in MinnesotaCare, the state’s publicly-subsidised medical insurance program for low-income residents. However in contrast to what Baier stated, MinnesotaCare shouldn’t be totally free. Folks enrolled in MinnesotaCare pay premiums based mostly on family dimension and revenue. There are additionally cost-sharing necessities, resembling copayments and deductibles.

Trump described American troopers’ mind accidents as complications

Harris advised Baier that, “after we had an American army base that was attacked, the place American troopers suffered traumatic mind accidents”, Trump “dismissed them as complications”.

True.

Harris was referring to a January 8, 2020 Iran assault on US troopers in Iraq. Greater than 100 troopers have been identified with traumatic mind accidents, in accordance with the Pentagon.

Trump has repeatedly known as the accidents “complications”.

In 2020, Trump stated he had “heard that that they had complications” and added it “shouldn’t be very severe”. Trump repeated this declare in an October 1 information convention in Wisconsin.

After Iran attacked Israel on October 1, Trump responded to a query about whether or not he ought to have been stronger on Iran after the 2020 assault that injured US troops. He stated: “What does injured imply? You imply as a result of that they had a headache as a result of the bombs by no means hit the fort?”

Trump’s  “enemy from inside” warning

Harris stated Trump “is the one who talks about an enemy inside, an enemy inside, speaking in regards to the American individuals, suggesting he would flip the American army, on the American individuals”.

True.

In a Fox Information interview October 13, Trump stated he believes “the enemy from inside” would trigger chaos on Election Day, suggesting that it’s a drawback that the Nationwide Guard or army would possibly must deal with.

Trump added on to the feedback, extensively regarded as about Democrats and others who disagree with him, a day later in remarks to a crowd in Pennsylvania. “They’re so dangerous and albeit, they’re evil,” Trump stated. “They’re evil. What they’ve finished, they’ve weaponized, they’ve weaponized our elections.”

Nobel laureates described Harris’s financial agenda as ‘superior’ to Trump’s

Harris stated 16 Nobel laureates indicated that her financial plan “would strengthen our financial system, (Trump’s) would make it weaker, would ignite inflation and invite a recession by the center of subsequent yr”.

Largely True.

Harris accurately describes what the Nobel laureates stated about inflation throughout a Trump presidency: “There may be rightly a fear that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation.”

However whereas the group describes Harris’s agenda as “vastly superior” to Trump’s, their letter doesn’t particularly predict a recession by the center of 2025.

Slightly, the group wrote: “We consider {that a} second Trump time period would have a detrimental impression on the US’s financial standing on the planet and a destabilizing impact on the US’s home financial system.”

The 16 economists are George Akerlof, Angus Deaton, Claudia Goldin, Oliver Hart, Eric S. Maskin, Daniel L. McFadden, Paul R. Milgrom, Roger B. Myerson, Edmund S. Phelps, Paul M. Romer, Alvin E. Roth, William F. Sharp, Robert J. Shiller, Christopher A. Sims, Joseph Stiglitz, and Robert B. Wilson.