CNN panel reacts to Vice President Harris' 'cringeworthy' border answer
"The fact that they didn't have something better than 'I haven't been to Europe' is fairly notable," one panelist says.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CNN Sunday anchor Abby Phillip reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris' infamous interview when she was questioned about her absence at the U.S. southern border despite being appointed by President Biden to manage the growing crisis occurring on the border.
"It's just a little cringeworthy, and I know that her allies in the White House and elsewhere are watching it and just kind of wondering what is going on," Phillip said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Her comment is in reference to Harris' interview with NBC anchor Lester Holt. Earlier this week, Holt pressed the vice president on the unraveling migrant crisis and pointed out that she has yet to visit the southern border.
"At some point, you know, we are going to the border. We've been to the border," Harris said. "So this whole, this whole, this whole thing about the border. We've been to the border. We've been to the border.
"You haven't been to the border," Holt told her.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"And I haven't been to Europe," Harris chuckled. "I don't understand the point that you're making."
The interview was mocked and sparked bipartisan backlash at the administration's handling of the crisis.
As part of her responsibilities in overseeing the crisis, Harris led a diplomatic effort to combat the flow of migrants last week. The vice president took her first foreign trip to Guatemala and Mexico and spoke with the countries' leaders and address corruption and find the root cause as to why migrants are fleeing their native countries.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CNN Political Analyst Laura Barron-Lopez said the interview didn't go according to plan.
"It didn't go the way the White House wanted it to go. Again, immigration, as you mention, is a hot potato no one wants to touch, and Harris has been dealt it and so she has to handle now what Biden had to handle when he was VP which is relationships with the northern triangle."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Since reversing many Trump-era immigration policies, the Biden administration has come face-to-face with criticism over its handling of the migrant crisis. The president and vice president have been called to the border to witness the crisis by both border patrol agents and congressional lawmakers from both parties.
"To be clear, she was going to be asked this question. And the fact that they didn't have something better than ‘I haven't been to Europe’ is fairly notable," CNN panelist and Washington Post reporter Olivier Knox said.