Fox News “Special Report” host Bret Baier claimed Wednesday that Kamala Harris’ campaign team pared the allotted time he had with her just before a highly anticipated interview — and then had the vice president show up late.
Baier, a veteran political journalist, compared the Harris campaign’s tactics to a football team “icing the kicker” before an important field goal attempt.
“So, we were supposed to start at 5 p.m. — this was the time they gave us, originally. We’re going to do 25 or 30 minutes,” the host explained.
“They came in and said, ‘Well, maybe 20 [minutes].’ So, it was already getting whittled down,” Baier added.
“And then the vice president showed up at about 5:15 [p.m.].”
The “Special Report” host noted that Harris’ tardiness made it a challenge for his production team to get the interview out at the start of his 6 p.m. show.
“We were pushing the envelope,” Baier said.
“So, that’s how it started. And I could tell when we started talking that she was going to be tough, to, you know, redirect without me trying to interrupt,” he continued, referring to the Democratic nominee’s efforts to “filibuster” during the interview and not allow him to get a word in edgewise.
In his post-interview analysis, Baier also revealed that he had hoped to ask more questions, but several Harris campaign staffers were frantically signaling to him off-camera to end the interview because his time was up.
“I’m talking, like, four people waving their hands like it’s got to stop,” he said. “I had to dismount there at the end.”
Baier noted that he believes Harris came into the interview with the “goal” of cramming in her talking points regardless of the questions asked.
“Normally you can kind of get in on the breath,” Baier said, referring to his efforts to get Harris to directly answer his inquiries.
“Sometimes there is an effort to filibuster, to create a moment,” he added. “And I think that that was their goal coming in.”
Harris, 59, dodged several of the Fox News host’s questions during the sit-down, including ones related to immigration, border security and President Biden’s mental decline.
The Post has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.