Moments from 60 Minutes’ interview with Joe Biden

This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Norah O’Donnell interviewed former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president. It was the third time O’Donnell has interviewed him for the broadcast. She also spoke with Mr. Biden’s vice presidential running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris.

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The wide-ranging interviews covered everything from coronavirus and the economy to foreign affairs and the Supreme Court. Here are five key moments from the Democratic nominees’ interviews.

BIDEN’S “REVOLUTIONARY INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES”

During a May episode of his podcast, Joe Biden spoke with former rival Andrew Yang, who pushed for a policy of universal basic income when he campaigned for the Democratic ticket. “We need some revolutionary institutional changes,” Mr. Biden told Yang at the time.

In this week’s interview, O’Donnell asked Mr. Biden what he had in mind.

BIDEN’S TAX PLAN

O’Donnell pushed Joe Biden on other aspects of his economic plan, noting that he has proposed several trillion dollars of new spending over the next decade on initiatives such as economic relief, education, and health care. How does he plan to pay for it all?

“By righting the tax code,” Mr. Biden said. “You got billionaires in this country making $700 billion during this crisis.”

The former vice president promised that no one making less than $400,000 a year would pay more in taxes.

BIDEN ON EXPANDING THE SUPREME COURT

Just over a week shy of Election Day, the Senate on Monday is planning a confirmation vote for Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court. O’Donnell asked Mr. Biden if he would add more justices to the nation’s top court if he were elected.

Joe Biden responded that he would put together a national, bipartisan commission of constitutional scholars to make recommendations on how to reform the system for selecting Supreme Court justices.

“Presidents come and go,” he said. “Supreme Court justices stay for generations.”

BIDEN ON HIS AGE AND SELECTION OF KAMALA HARRIS

If elected, Joe Biden would be the oldest president in American history, taking the oath of office at age 78. O’Donnell asked him about the president’s allegations that Mr. Biden has dementia.

“All I can say to the American people is watch me, is see what I’ve done, is see what I’m going to do,” Mr. Biden said. “Look at me. Compare our physical and mental acuity. I’m happy to have that comparison.”

HARRIS ON WHETHER SHE’LL PUSH BIDEN TO THE LEFT

In her interview with Senator Harris, O’Donnell pointed to the different ideological leanings between her and Joe Biden. The website GovTrack, O’Donnell noted, ranked Harris as the most liberal Senator in 2019, based on her legislative record.

If elected, would Senator Harris bring the progressive policies she has supported in the Senate into the White House?

“What I will do, and I promise you this, and this is what Joe wants me to do, this was part of our deal, I will always share with him my lived experience as it relates to any issues that we confront,” she said. “And I promised Joe that I will give him that perspective and always be honest with him.”