Transcript of Harris’s Contentious Fox Interview, and Italy Expands Surrogacy Ban

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From the New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Tracey Mumford. Today's Thursday, October 17th. Here's what we're covering. Madam Vice President, thank you for the time.

Thank you. It's good to be with you, Brett.

Last night, Kamala Harris sat for the most contentious interview of her campaign so far with Fox news anchor, Brett Baer.

Brett, let's just get to the point.

Right off the bat, the two sparred over border control.

We have a broken immigration system that needs to be repaired.

So your Homeland Security Secretary said that 85% of apprehensions- I'm not finished. I'm not finished. Baer repeatedly interrupted Harris, and the whole thing turned into more of a debate than an interview as they went back and forth over policy and over Donald Trump.

And that people are exhausted with someone who professes to be a leader who spends full-time demeaning and engaging in personal grievances and it being about him instead of the American people. People are tired of that.

If that's the case, why is half the country supporting him? Why is he beating you in a lot of swing states? Why? For Harris, the interview was a chance to make points that most Fox News viewers don't hear in the conservative Network's normal programming. She talked, for example, about the number of Trump's own former administration officials who now support her instead. Harris tried to distance herself from critiques of the Biden administration.

Let me be very clear. My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency. Like every new president that comes in to office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas. I represent a new generation of leadership.

Harris did this interview with Brett Baer with one very specific audience in mind, which is Republican women, especially those Republican women who voted for or supported Nikki Haley in the primary.

Times reporter, Nicholas Nehamas, has been covering Harris's campaign.

I think one of the most interesting things was her message to these women was not about abortion, which is a big issue for more moderate and liberal-lening women. It was about immigration, which polling has shown is a top concern of a lot of female voters. She was able to talk her plans to secure the border for an audience that likely doesn't get to hear a lot of her message.

I have no pride in saying that this is a perfect immigration system. I've been clear, I think we all are, that it needs to be fixed.

And also, these viewers saw her in a much more combative setting. The interview she's done, for the most part, have been very friendly. So here they saw her take on someone who was interrupting her frequently, trying to talk over her and really stand her ground and make her points. Paris is making a big push to reach out to Republicans, so we'll see how successful this was because a lot of these viewers are skeptical of her.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump held a town hall last night with Latino voters who posed questions to the former President, though Trump often skirted them and avoided answering some, instead retreating to standard campaign language. Remember these two things? I had the strongest border in the history of our country and had the best economy in the history of our country, and I had no inflation. No inflation. Thank you. Thank you. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay over $880 million to people who say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy. The record-setting settlement will be divided among roughly 1,300 people. In total, the LA diocese, which is the largest in the US, will have now paid over $1.5 billion in sex abuse lawsuits. It's sold off real estate, liquidated investments, and taken out loans to cover the staggering costs. The diocese Archbishop said in a statement that he hoped the latest settlement would provide, quote, some measure of healing. A lawyer representing some of the plaintiffs said the settlement is not full justice, but will give survivors a sense of closure. There are still pending lawsuits elsewhere in the state. The President of the Watchdog Group that tracks abuse reports related to the church said, quote, There are a lot more dominoes in California to come down.

Lawmakers in Italy have passed a new law banning citizens from using surrogacy services outside the country. The legislation adds to the country's already strict laws which ban the procedure in Italy. Supporters of the law say it's designed to protect women from being exploited by surrogacy. But critics say it's an attack on LGBTQ families since it's now virtually impossible for gay couples to legally have children there. Adoption in Italy is only open to heterosexual couples. Italy is also one of the few European countries that does not recognize same-sex marriage. The new law is seen as a victory for Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Maloney, who's been trying to appeal to her conservative base on cultural issues by cracking down on gay rights and abortion. The law will also be a blow to heterosexual couples facing infertility issues. They're believed to be the majority of people in Italy who are using surrogacy. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is speaking to European leaders in Brussels this morning, and again making the case that Ukraine needs more support from its Western allies. Zelensky says that support is crucial to helping Ukraine turn the tide after weeks of losing ground to Russia.

They've seen losses not just on the front lines in Ukraine, but the Ukrainian military has also struggled to hold onto the Russian territory it seized this summer.

The Ukrainian offensive into Western Russia clearly lifted the spirits of people in Ukraine. Finally, they had their moment. They showed the world that they could still have the initiative on the battlefield and achieve success. Now, two months into the offensive, the harsh reality of the war has crept in.

Times reporter, Constant Mia, is in Ukraine covering the war.

Now, the issue is that every Russian village that they regain diminishes the prospect that the Ukrainians can use that territory in order to push the Russians into peace negotiation associations. To be sure, the Ukrainians still hold something like 300 square miles of territory in Russia that is done from about 400 square miles at the beginning of their offensive. But everybody wanders to what extent they'll be able to hold territory there in the next few months in the face of what looks to be intensified Russian counterattacks.

And finally, Liam Payne, who rose to Fame as a member of One Direction, one of the best-selling boy bands of all time, died at 31 yesterday after falling from a hotel in Buenos Aires. The circumstances of his fall are unclear. Payne was a teenager when his music career took off. He and four other participants in the singing competition, The X Factor, were packaged into a group in 2010 by Simon Cowell, the notoriously critical British music executive and TV host. Boy bands weren't a new formula, but One Direction became a massive hit with an adoring audience of teenage girls. The Times review of one of the band's early American concert said, There was nothing security could do about the screaming. Payne was one of the group's standout singers.

You're insecure, don't know what for.

You're turning heads when you walk through the door.

Don't need make up to cover One Direction had 29 hits on Billboard's Hot 100, including What Makes You Beautiful. And they released five albums before the group broke up in 2016. The members went on to pursue their own solo careers. Payne talked openly about how the Fame and early success had affected his life. He said security would sometimes just keep the band members tucked away in their own hotel room because of the crowds. He started drinking from the minibars. He posted a video last year saying he'd stop drinking after spending time in rehab. Fans across the world have been reacting to his death. At the hotel in Buenos Aires, people gathered last night for an impromptu memorial. We can let him go.

We can make some more.

We can leave for Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a roundtable of Times reporters breaks down this week's campaign news. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.