Harris and Howard Stern Bash Trump for Chickening Out of ’60 Minutes’ Interview

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The presidential hopeful sat down with the New York radio king as part of a media blitz this week

Vice President Kamala Harris and radio host Howard Stern criticized Donald Trump on Tuesday after he dropped out of his scheduled 60 Minutes interview on CBS News.

“I mean, it just says so much. He didn’t want to be fact-checked. This is maddening. This is insanity. What do you mean you don’t want to be fact-checked?” Stern said.

Harris replied to Stern: “I think that — you know, Howard, people ask me, what do you think is going on and what is the tension here? What’s at stake? And there are many things and I can be much more articulate than what I’m gonna say, but ultimately, I do believe that this is an election that is about strength versus weakness.”

“Yeah,” Stern said.

“And weakness,” Harris said, “as projected by someone who puts himself in front of the American people and does not have the strength to stand in defense of their needs, their dreams, their desires.”

She added: “The work that must happen to make sure that we are a secure nation, that we are nurturing and protecting our alliances around the world, that we are supporting America’s military, that we are fighting to bring the cost of living down for working families, that we are building businesses, building growth.”

The Trump campaign had said that 60 Minutes had planned to do “live fact checking,” which they called “unprecedented.” In response, CBS News 60 Minutes gave its side of the story in the intro to the program, claiming Trump’s camp said he wouldn’t do the scheduled interview because it would be fact-checked and because he claims they still owe him an apology for an interview Leslie Stahl conducted in 2020. “We fact-check every story,” correspondent Scott Pelley explained. “wrote: “60 Minutes fact checks every story it broadcasts.”

Fact checking is becoming an issue for the Trump campaign. ABC did a live fact check of Trump during the presidential debate last month, leading Trump and the right to allege the debate was rigged against him. During the debate, Trump falsely said immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating cats and dogs, which ABC’s David Muir quickly rebutted. The racist lie, which has been spread by the right for weeks, has no basis in reality.

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During the vice presidential debate last week, CBS News moderators countered what Vance, Trump’s running mate, said about immigrants in Springfield — specifically Vance’s implication that they are in the United States illegally, which is not true. “The rules were that you guys weren’t gonna fact-check,” Vance complained after the moderators corrected him.

Unlike Trump, Harris did appear on 60 Minutes. Following her interview, Trump told conservative commentator Ben Shapiro on Tuesday: “Every time she does an interview she sounds like a child. She sounds like a person with a very low IQ.”

Stern also spoke about Kamala being portrayed inaccurately by the right. “To me, you’re the law and order candidate. And yet they try to paint you like you’re some leftist who … wants to have people running through the streets committing crimes. You were a prosecutor.”

“I have put a lot of people in jail,” Harris said.

Stern and Harris also discussed Saturday Night Live, where she is being portrayed by comedian Maya Rudolph. “I don’t want you being made fun of,” Stern said. “There’s too much at stake. I believe the entire future of this country right now… is literally on the line.”

“It was funny, I am a huge fan of Maya Rudolph,” Harris said.

Stern and Trump have known each other for years. In 2004, Trump appeared on Stern’s show, where they discussed Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.

“By the way, your daughter,” Stern said.

“She’s beautiful,” Trump said.

“Can I say this? A piece of ass,” Stern asked.