‘Call Her Daddy,’ ‘The Howard Stern Show,’ ’60 Minutes’: Harris’ Fact-Checking Media Tour

Since entering the presidential race in July, Vice President Kamala Harris has sat down for relatively few media interviews, opting instead for rallies with scripted speeches.

That changed this week.

Within days, he was doing interviews with the network news magazine, CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” ABC’s “The View,” and CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

She also spoke with SiriusXM host Howard Stern and Alex Cooper of “Call Her Daddy,” a popular podcast for younger women.

The media tour reflected Harris’ response to criticism that he is avoiding the press and his campaign’s desire to reach specific voters. Here’s a sampling of what Harris said during his appearances at this wide range of outlets, along with fact checks:

’60 minutes’

On Monday, Bill Whitaker of “60 Minutes” peppered Harris with question after question on a range of tough topics, including the immigration policies of the Biden-Harris administration, his ability to influence Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Harris’s changing political positions on issues such as fracking.

On the economy, Harris said, “We now have historically low unemployment in America across all groups of people,” which we rated as Medium True because unemployment for several groups has risen modestly since hitting lows in 2022 or in 2023.

He also claimed that the Biden-Harris administration has “cut the flow of fentanyl in half,” but did not elaborate.

Whitaker also asked for more details about the gun Harris owns. He said it was a Glock pistol and that he got it because he was in law enforcement, as the District Attorney of San Francisco and the Attorney General of California.

‘The View’

On Tuesday, Harris appeared live on “The View,” the ABC daytime talk show that has often treated Democratic politicians warmly.

The hosts listened as Harris touted the accomplishments of President Joe Biden’s administration and criticized Trump.

The hosts nodded as he said Trump once said he would “finish the Constitution,” a claim we’ve rated as true. In 2022, Trump wrote in Truth Social that voter fraud could be the basis for the “termination” of the rules of the US Constitution. There is no mechanism for the “extinction” of constitutional rules due to undesirable election results.

Harris was asked if he would have done anything differently than Biden over the past four years. In a response that weighed on Republican messages critical of Biden, Harris initially said, “Nothing comes to mind.” He later said he would appoint a Republican to the Cabinet.

“call her father”

The “Call Her Daddy” podcast focuses primarily on topics of interest to young women.

Cooper opened his show by explaining why he wanted to talk to Harris. “Let’s face it, I’m probably not the one who needs to be having the fracking conversation,” Cooper said. “But the conversation I know I’m qualified to have is the one surrounding women’s bodies and how we’re treated and valued in this country.” (Cooper said she had also invited Trump to join her for an episode.)

For about 40 minutes, Harris spoke about her upbringing and values, along with women’s health issues, including abortion.

Harris highlighted the restrictive abortion laws that have been enacted since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Harris repeated a true statement that 1 in 3 American women of reproductive age live in a state with an abortion ban. There are 65 to 75 million American women of reproductive age. Of those, more than 25 million live in one of the 18 states that prohibit abortion or prohibit abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, when many women don’t even know they’re pregnant.

Harris also criticized Trump for appointing three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe and said his more recent attempts to soften his stance on abortion are disingenuous. “Is this the same guy who said women should be punished for having abortions?” she asked.

Trump did say that, but Harris dropped that he said it in 2016 and walked back the comment the same day, amid criticism. Trump clarified that he thought doctors, not women, should be punished for performing illegal abortions.

‘The Howard Stern Show’

On Tuesday, Harris sat down with Stern, whose longtime shock persona has recently morphed into a friendly conversationalist for Democrats, including Biden.

In the interview, Stern and Harris shared their appreciation for the late singer Prince and the breakfast cereal. (He likes Raisin Bran and Special K.) Stern also gave Harris a chance to talk about his background in law enforcement.

Harris repeated several attacks on Trump, saying he told Americans to put “bleach in their blood” during the COVID-19 pandemic. We rated similar claims Mostly false because Trump did not explicitly recommend ingesting a disinfectant such as bleach, but rather expressed interest in exploring whether disinfectants could be applied to a site of coronavirus infection within the body, such as the lungs

Stern gave Harris an opening to criticize this year’s Supreme Court decision granting broad immunity from prosecution to US presidents, which would immediately help Trump if he wins re-election.

“This is a guy who has said he’s going to be a dictator on Day 1, said he’s going to weaponize the Justice Department, take away the independence of the Justice Department and put his loyalists in there,” Harris said. This is largely accurate; Trump has often talked about how he would use the Justice Department to indict his opponents if he regained the White House. Trump also said he would be a dictator if re-elected, although he said it would only be for a day.

‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’

For more than half a century, late-night television has been a destination for presidential candidates, dating back to the 1960s, when Democrat John F. Kennedy appeared on “The Tonight Show” when Jack Paar was the host.

On Tuesday, Colbert devoted most of his hour-long show to Harris. He criticized Trump and opened Miller High Life beers with the host.

In what appears to have been an attempt to come clean about his “The View” remarks, Harris responded to a question about how he would be different from Biden by telling the audience with a laugh, “Obviously I’m not Joe Biden. So that would be being a change… But also, I think it’s important to say, with 28 days to go, I’m not Donald Trump.”

Harris also repeated a talking point he made on “60 Minutes,” that teachers and other middle-class Americans are paying a higher tax rate than billionaires. We’ve rated similar claims as false, because they underestimate what billionaires typically pay under current law and overstate what middle-class Americans pay.

Our sources

YouTube, “The View,” 8 Oct. 2024
YouTube Vice President Kamala Harris on the Howard Stern Show, October 8, 2024
Spotify, Call Her Daddy, VP Kamala Harris, October 6, 2024
CBS News, Watch Kamala Harris’ 2024 60 Minutes Interview, October 7, 2024
USA Today, Harris slams Trump on ‘The View,’ declines to distance himself from Biden, October 8, 2024
Politico, “7 Memorable Presidential Appearances on Late Night TV,” 10 Dec. 2021
Billboard, “Kamala Harris Cracks a Beer With Stephen Colbert on ‘The Late Show’: Watch”, 9 Oct 2024
The Hill, “Harris to Colbert: ‘Obviously I’m not Joe Biden … I’m not Donald Trump,'” 9 Oct. 2024
PolitiFact, Joe Biden Fact Check on Day 1 of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, August 20, 2024
PolitiFact, Kamala Harris on ’60 Minutes’ said unemployment is at record lows for everyone. Half-Truth, October 8, 2024
PolitiFact, How Many Women Live in States With Abortion Bans? Fact-Checking Vice President Kamala Harris, January 30, 2024
PolitiFact, Does Trump Support Punishments for Women Who Get Abortions? Biden ad uses old, retracted comment, September 19, 2023
PolitiFact, No, Trump Did Not Tell Americans Infected With The Coronavirus To Drink Bleach, July 11, 2020
PolitiFact, Joe Biden’s dodgy math on the federal income tax burden, July 13, 2022
CBS News, Trump suggests he or another Republican president could use Justice Department to indict opponents, November 10, 2023
Fox News, Kamala Harris prepares extremely friendly interview blitz with ‘The View’, Stephen Colbert and Howard Stern October 8, 2024
NBC News, Harris, Walz Embark on Media Blitz Amid Press-Shunning Republican Criticism October 6, 2024
The Washington Post Harris launches unscripted interview barrage after cautious launch Oct 7, 2024
The Wall Street Journal, Where ’60 Minutes’ and ‘Call Her Daddy’ Fit into Kamala Harris’s Unorthodox Media Strategy, October 8, 2024
The Atlantic, What Her Father Did by Kamala Harris, October 7, 2024