Ahead of the Kamala Harris’s first sit-down interview as the Democratic nominee, leading Republicans are seizing on what they perceive as her reluctance to engage with the media.
“There is not a lot of confidence in somebody to become the leader of the free world, and ask people to make her president of the United States when she can’t even sit down with an interview,” the Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Wednesday.
Harris has still not sat down for an interview or held a formal press conference since becoming the presumptive Democratic candidate following President Biden’s withdrawal on July 21, and her apparent media shyness has become a key angle of attack for the GOP.
Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Governor Tim Walz celebrate during the final day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Harris will take part in her first sit-down interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Thursday evening, and will be accompanied by her running mate.
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On Tuesday, CNN announced that Harris would take part in her first formal interview since assuming the Democratic ticket, set to be chaired by chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash and held on Thursday evening.
However, the vice president will be accompanied by her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, drawing further criticism from Republicans.
On Wednesday morning, Sanders mocked the choice of a joint interview as opposed to a one-on-one, claiming that this laid bare the Democratic Party‘s qualms over Harris’s communication skills.
When asked by Fox News’s Ainsley Earhardt why the pair had only agreed to a joint interview with CNN, Sanders said: “They know that Kamala Harris can’t get through an interview all by herself.”
Newsweek has contacted the Harris campaign for their response to Sanders’s comments, and to inquire when the vice president will agree to take part in a one-on-one interview.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks on stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 16, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On Wednesday, Sanders criticized Harris for conducting her first sit-down interview alongside her running mate, claiming that Tim Walz would act as a “babysitter” for Harris.
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The Arkansas governor, who served as White House press secretary between 2017 and 2019, added that the Democrats had placed Walz there as a “babysitter” for Harris, who would be able to interject if the vice president slipped up.
“It’s clear that her own team and her own party thinks she needs a babysitter, and that’s why they’re putting her vice presidential nominee on the stage with her so that he can step in and answer questions if things go like the clips we just saw.”
Sanders was referring to a Fox News compilation of Harris’s supposed slip-ups, such as the vice president’s contradictory answers regarding visits to the Mexican border, as well as her now-notorious “passage of time” quote from March 2022.
The fact that the interview is with CNN, rather than a less Democrat-aligned outlet, was also of issue to Sanders, who said: “This isn’t even a tough interview. This is on CNN. This is one of their media allies. She should take this opportunity to show the American people that she can handle hard questions.”
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