CBSUS Vice-President Kamala Harris was pressed on issues including the Middle East, Ukraine, gun ownership and immigration during a one-on-one interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes.
The recorded interview comes as Harris ramps up media appearances on a series of podcasts and TV networks amid criticism that she has made very few.
Donald Trump also was invited to 60 Minutes, but declined.
There is less than a month to go before Election Day in the race for the White House between the Democrat and her Republican opponent.
The interview on CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, aired Monday night after both Harris and Trump appeared at events to commemorate one year since the 7 October attack on Israel.
Harris declined to agree when asked by reporter Bill Whitaker whether Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu is a “strong ally” of the United States, after recent public disagreements between the White House and Jerusalem.
“The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles,” Harris said.
“I think, with all due respect, the better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people,” she continued. “And the answer to that question is yes.”
In a more tense moment, Harris also was pressed to defend her immigration record, which has been heavily attacked by Trump and Republicans.
Mr Whitaker asked her whether it was a “mistake” to loosen border restrictions put in place during Trump’s presidency, given that the Biden-Harris administration re-enacted restrictions three years after taking control of the White House.
“It’s a longstanding problem. And solutions are at hand. And from day one, literally, we have been offering solutions,” she said, blaming Trump for pressuring Republicans in Congress to torpedo a border deal that would have increased immigration enforcement.
The reporter responded: “What I was asking was, was it a mistake to kind of allow that flood to happen in the first place?”
Harris replied that “the policies that we have been proposing are about fixing a problem, not promoting a problem”. She said that she and Biden have “cut the flow of illegal immigration by half”.
On Ukraine, Harris said she would not sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin unless Ukraine was also at the table.
She slammed Trump’s position, saying: “He talks about, oh, he can end it on day one. You know what that is? It’s about surrender,” she said.
If Trump was still president, she said, “Putin would be in Kyiv right now”.
She also was asked about her economic plan and how her administration would fund its plans, which could add $3tr (£2.3tr) to the US national deficit over the next decade.
“My economic plan would strengthen America’s economy. His would weaken it,” she said, adding that her plan relied on “strengthening small businesses”.
Asked again how she would pay for it, Harris responded that she would raise taxes on “the richest among us who can afford it”.
On Monday, a new analysis by the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found Trump’s proposals would increase the US national debt by double the amount of Harris’.
Trump would add $7.5tn and Harris would add $3.5tn, the group said.
The think tank warned that neither was addressing the country’s growing $35.6tn debt.
In her interview, Harris also discussed owning a firearm, revealing that her pistol is made by Austrian company Glock.
“I’ve had it for quite some time,” she said, noting that her “background is in law enforcement”.
Harris, a former district attorney in California, laughed when asked if she had ever fired it, saying, “of course I have, at a shooting range.”
Also speaking on the same programme, Harris’s running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, criticised Trump for his comments on his opponents and migrants.
“They’re dehumanising, they go beyond weird because, I said this, it becomes almost dangerous. Let’s try to debate policy in a real way and let’s try to find objective truth again.”
He also defended his record of making false statements about his military service and travels in Asia in the 1980s.
Walz described himself as a guy “telling a story, getting a date wrong”, rather than a “pathological liar” like Trump.
“I will own up to being a knucklehead at times, but the folks closest to me know that I keep my word.”
Trump also was invited to 60 Minutes. He accepted, but later changed his mind and declined, according to CBS.
Trump’s campaign disputed that he ever agreed to be interviewed. His spokesman, Steven Cheung called it “fake news”.
During his 2020 presidential campaign, Trump walked out of his interview with CBS presenter Leslie Stahl after growing frustrated with questions about Covid-19.
Earlier on Monday, Harris commemorated those killed or taken hostage on 7 October by planting a pomegranate tree at the vice-president’s residence in Washington.
“A symbol of hope and righteousness… to remind future vice-presidents of the United States not only of the horror of October 7th but the strength and endurance of the Jewish people,” Harris said.
Former President Donald Trump donned a black yarmulke as he visited Ohel Chabad Lubavitch, the final resting place of Rabbi Schneerson in Queens, New York on Monday.
The site is considered the holiest Jewish site in North America, according to some Orthodox Jews.
