Stephen Colbert skips tough topics during softball Kamala Harris interview

Outgoing CBS “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert failed to address the hottest topics with former Vice President Kamala Harris during his fawning interview on Thursday.

Colbert rolled out the red carpet for Harris, who granted him her first interview since leaving office and took the opportunity to plug her forthcoming book “107 Days” about her failed presidential bid. 

However, Colbert avoided asking Harris anything about the controversy surrounding her ex-boss, former President Joe Biden, and the growing questions about his cognitive decline while in office. 

Multiple Biden aides, including his White House physician Kevin O’Connor, pleaded the Fifth when brought before Congress and several tell-all books have shed light on the former president’s difficulty behind the scenes. 

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Notably, Colbert emceed a star-studded fundraiser for Biden in March 2024.

The closest Colbert got to broaching the subject was a couple of softball questions about Harris’ experience after Biden’s disastrous presidential debate in June 2024 and the moment he ended his reelection bid weeks later. 

Another giant elephant in the room was her involvement in President Donald Trump’s “election interference” lawsuit against CBS News and parent company Paramount, which cascaded to a series of events that liberal critics say connect Paramount’s settlement and its forthcoming merger with Skydance Media with the cancellation of “The Late Show.”

Colbert has been outspoken with his criticism of his corporate bosses.

The interview Harris gave to “60 Minutes” last October was at the center of Trump’s lawsuit, which accused CBS News of deceptively editing her comments to aid her campaign. 

Critics at the time pointed out that her “word salad” response to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu aired in a preview clip on “Face the Nation,” while a more concise answer aired during the “60 Minutes” primetime special the following night. Raw transcripts released by the FCC after it ordered CBS News to hand them over earlier this year revealed that the first portion of her response aired in the preview clip, while the latter part of that same response aired in primetime. 

Both Colbert and Harris seemed to tiptoe around the CBS drama. At the top of the interview, after he pointed out that Harris “looked rested,” Colbert joked he’ll get “plenty of rest in June,” which is the month after “The Late Show” will officially be off the air in 2026.

 Harris later called out the “capitulation” that has taken place since Trump took office, though not mentioning Paramount by name. 

There was very little substance throughout the roughly 30-minute interview as Harris repeatedly either dodged various questions or teased that the answers would be in her book.

One question Harris refused to answer was who she thought was currently leading the Democratic Party.

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“I think there are a lot of – I’m not going to go through names because then I’m going to leave somebody out and then I’m going to hear about it,” Harris told Colbert. “But let me say this. I think it is a mistake for us who want us to figure out how to get out and through this and get out of it to put it on the shoulders of any one person. It’s really on all of our shoulders. It really is.”