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Fox News host Bret Baier has hit back at accusations from people who believe his upcoming interview with Kamala Harris will be edited to make her seem more favorable.
Opponents of Harris lashed out at Baier on X after he announced the Vice President would appear in a pre-taped 25 to 30-minute interview for his show Special Report on Wednesday evening.
They accused Baier of giving Harris questions ahead of time, asking soft questions, editing the interview in her favor or giving into concessions for a chance to interview the vice president – accusations often launched by right-wing individuals or Trump supporters who believe mainstream media favors Harris.
So the Fox News host took to X on Monday night and Tuesday morning to assure people the interview, while pre-taped, would be aired as-live with minimal interruptions and no questions would be given to Harris ahead of time.
“No one has the questions. Except me,” he told an X user. When another person assumed Baier would “pass [Harris] the questions” Baier rejected the claim.
When one person raised “a concern” about the interview being pre-taped Baier responded, “It will run as-Live - in its entirety. It is taped because they gave us a time just before my show. We plan to run it uninterrupted — and not edited.”
Another X user floated the unfounded theory that Fox News and Baier made “many concessions” to Harris’s campaign so the interview would be “watered down”. Baier said that was untrue.
Baier had to explain that the only reason the interview won’t be live is because Harris’s campaign gave him a time slot of 5 to 5:30 p.m. – his show begins at 6 p.m. ET.
Harris’s interview with Fox News is the latest in the media blitz she’s embarked on to help voters get to know her across the country. So far, she’s appeared on The View, the podcastCall Her Daddy, Howard Stern’s radio show, The Shade Room, CBS show 60 Minutes, Late Night with Stephen Colbert, the radio show The Breakfast Club and more.
The vice president is aggressively trying to diversify her audience to reach independent voters and comes after Tim Walz was interviewed on Fox News Sunday this past weekend. Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, has been making regular appearances on the network, with governors Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro, Wes Moore and Gretchen Whitmer also showing up.
Donald Trump does appear regularly on the network and participated in a town hall, hosted by Fox News, on Monday. However, Trump has also canceled several mainstream media appearances recently and declined to participate in a third presidential debate.
Despite refusing most mainstream interviews, Trump still accuses Harris of using a script or teleprompter in hers. He’s lashed out at networks and host for being too soft on Harris and accused them of editing an interview in her favor without evidence.
Some, like Baier, have defended their decisions. Most recently, when Trump accused CBS of editing Harris’s interview for 60 Minutes to make her appear more well-spoken the network denied the allegation saying they cut down her answer for timing purposes.
