Fox News anchor Bret Baier says he “made a mistake” during his interview with Kamala Harris in not airing video of a Donald Trump comment, something Harris pointed out to him in real time.
Baier made that admission on Thursday roughly 24 hours after his interview with the Democratic presidential candidate was aired. Just under 8 million people watched the session, Harris’ first sit-down with a Fox News Channel journalist during the campaign.
It wasn’t immediately clear, however, what Baier meant by saying he made a mistake.
Their exchange over the Trump video, one of the most contentious of the interview, came after Harris criticized her Republican opponent for saying that he might have to call out the National Guard or military to deal with “the enemy within,” whom he defined as “radical left lunatics.”
Baier then said his colleague, Harris Faulkner, had asked Trump about his “enemy within” comment earlier in the day, “and this is how he responded.” The clip showed Trump saying he wasn’t threatening anybody, and criticized “phony investigations” of him, cracking a joke his audience laughed at.
“Bret, I’m sorry, and with all due respect, that clip was not what he has been saying about the enemy within … that’s not what you just showed,” Harris said.
Speaking a day later, Baier said that when he asked his staff for video to play during the interview, he was expecting to get two clips — one that showed Trump making the “enemy within” comment to Fox’s Maria Bartiromo, and the one from Faulkner’s town hall that was played during the Harris interview.
“Take a listen to what I meant to roll,” Baier said on Thursday. He then aired both clips back to back.
Yet during the interview, Baier had given no indication that he meant to air the “enemy within” comment at all, even after Harris had pointed it out. For that reason, his explanation of a mistake met with some skepticism online.
“Newsflash: When wrong clips run (which happens) hosts can easily say `Sorry that was the wrong clip,’” former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson wrote on “X.” “He or his producers would have know it was the wrong one right then.”
There was no immediate comment from a Fox representative on Friday to clarify what Baier meant.
Fox News edited it out. The bad news is that what Fox left in was not good.
Once again, Trump held a political event in a dark room where he sounded barely alive:
Trump sounds barely alive in this very taped town hall with Harris Faulkner. Notice this is another Trump event in the dark. The setting is dark. It also sends a very negative message to voters compared to the energetic and upbeat Harris presentation. pic.twitter.com/vHxHyF8GaR
Trump basically had to be carried through the event by Harris Faulkner who was answering questions for him:
Harris Faulkner is carrying Trump on her back in this town hall, and egging on the Springfield lies. Trump and Faulkner claim that legal immigration hurts the economy. pic.twitter.com/24VzsMD27Z
Faulker had to cut Trump off and go to commercial at a taped town hall when the ex-president started incoherently ranting about Elon Musk:
Even in a taped and edited town hall, Trump goes off on an incoherent rant about Elon Musk and Harris Faulkner has to cut him off and go to commercial. pic.twitter.com/Bltqi08z2V
Even at at a Fox News town hall, Trump bombs a question about abortion. “Nobody wanted it in the federal government.” If Trump loses, his answer on abortion may end up being a big reason why. pic.twitter.com/Ftcrgs77JF
Even in the most friendly and controlled environments, Donald Trump can’t hide his cognitive decline. The only time Trump seemed alive during the whole event was when he got excited attacking and smearing immigrants.
What should be clear to the non-Trump or undecided voter is that Donald Trump is a 78 year old man who is in serious decline that is refusing to release his medical records, and appears unfit and unable to handle the duties of the presidency.
Donald Trump isn’t campaigning or connecting with voters. He is doing a traveling one man show, but he can’t remember the script or be entertaining.
Trump is a disaster, and the more he is seen, the more likely it is that this election will keep slipping away from Republicans.
As of 2 pm there were nearly 190,000 votes cast throughout the state, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Trump was in Cumming for a taping of a town hall on The Faulkner Focus show. Hosted by Fox News on-air talent Harris Faulkner, the town hall was held in the Reid Barn and is scheduled to air on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 11 am. Trump took part in a similar town hall in Oak, Pennsylvania, on Monday night. The former president also held a rally at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Harris held a rally at the same venue in September.
Former United States President Donald Trump took questions from an all-female crowd during a taping of The Faulkner Focus in Cumming, Georgia, on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. Photo by Julia Beverly/The Atlanta Voice
Faulknermentioned the record-setting early voting in Georgia to Trump and he took a moment to ask the crowd who they voted for and chants of “Trump, Trump” began. Trump said “Thank you” in response.
Members of the audience were allowed to ask Trump questions and the first was from a woman from Milton and was about affordability of gas and groceries. He answered the question in parts, but also drifted to mentioning the border and “letting all of these criminals into our country.”
Trump said, “We had the best economy in the history of our country,” a number of times during the first 10 minutes of the town hall.
The second question from a member of the audience from Brooklyn, New York, and now living in Fulton County, was about addressing the transgender issue in women’s sports. “That’s such an easy question. We’re not going to let that happen,” said Trump. He told stories of transgender athletes in volleyball and boxing competitions. Asked how he would stop it, Trump said, “You just ban it. The president just bans it.”
Questions from the all-female audience ranged from the cost of child care, immigration, immigrant crime, the death of Laken Riley, the young Augusta University nursing student that was murdered by an illegal immigrant in February, abortion, foreign policy, and the recent responses to hurricanes Helene and Milton.
Trump failed to give definitive answers on how he would address the fiscal concerns, but still received applause for the answers he gave. He said things like, “We are going to end all sanctuary cities. We can do things in terms of moving people out.”
Regarding immigration, Trump answered a Vietnamese women’s question with, “We don’t want murderers, we don’t want drug dealers, we don’t want human traffickers.”
On Harris and the border Trump repeated a common phrase he uses at rallies: “She was made the border czar and she is the worst.” He also mentioned Aurora, Colorado and Springfield, Ohio, as places that are overrun by immigrants. Faulkner did say that many of the immigrants are in this country legally.
“They are destroying our country,” Trump said. “Our country is in trouble.”
On the recent hurricane response Trump said the United States gives “hundreds of millions of dollars to countries, many of them you have never heard of.” He called the responses from the current Biden-Harris administration and FEMA the worst in the history of the country.
Following the third commercial break, abortion was the topic of discussion. Pamela, a Danville, California native and Cumming, Georgia resident asked Trump why the government is involved in women’s reproductive rights.
Trump gave a rambling response that could not be seen as a definitive answer to Pam’s question. “This issue has torn the country apart for 52 years,” he said. He went on to say that leaving abortion laws in the hands of the individual states is what’s best for this particular issue.
Alicia, a Black wife, mother, and United States Army veteran from Fulton County, said she voted for Trump on Tuesday morning and said she “hopes it gets counted.” Her question to Trump was about restoring peace around the world without having to be the world’s police force.
“We cannot be taken advantage of any longer,” Trump said during his answer to Alicia’s question.
Faulkner participated in a similar-looking panel with Trump during the first day of the annual National Association of Black Journalists convention (NABJ) in Chicago in July. Along with ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott and Kadia Goba, a politics reporter at Semafor, Faulkner interviewed the former president on a stage in a large ballroom. The panel is best known for going off the rails than it is for any policy or political points that were made.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spearheaded a Kamala Harris rally in Forsyth County in July before Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was selected as her running mate. For generations, the Republican stronghold has been skewing bluer these days, but there will have to be a huge change for Democrats to win this county. In 2020, Trump secured nearly 66% of the county’s vote (85,122) compared to current United States President Joseph R. Biden’s 32% (42,203). Despite the results in Forsyth County, Biden still managed to win the state by just under 12,000 votes.
