Thirty-eight days after becoming the Democratic Party's de facto nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris is looking to end an interview drought.
Pressed to do a substantive interview after weeks of stonewalling, she spoke to CNN's Dana Bash on Thursday, taped later that day and set to air Thursday night, with vice presidential candidate Tim Walz also on the call.
In a rare and brief press conference since taking over from President Biden, Harris insisted on Aug. 9 that she hoped to “schedule an interview by the end of the month.” It took another 18 days for the interview to finally be released.
Kamala Harris gives first CNN interview after weeks of avoiding the press, with Tim Waltz joining
Vice President Kamala Harris has not held a press conference in more than five weeks since she was confirmed as the Democratic presidential nominee. (Reuters/Kevin Wurm)
As for when she will hold a formal press conference, that day may never come.
“She won't have a single press conference in the 75 days leading up to Election Day,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha predicted last week.
Former President Trump has sought to highlight the differences between the two presidents' media presence, giving several lengthy interviews and holding two news conferences in recent weeks.
Harris has been known to struggle when faced with difficult questions, often laughing awkwardly or giving incoherent, confusing answers.
In 2021, Harris struggled to explain her border security strategy, and when asked by NBC News host Lester Holt why she hadn't visited the southern border, she infamously joked that she'd never even been to Europe.
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican vice presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio. (Getty Images)
In 2023, The New York Times reported that after her “disastrous” meeting with Holt, she “mostly holed herself up in her bunker for about a year, avoiding many interviews because aides feared she would make a mistake and disappoint Biden.”
It remains to be seen whether Bash will scrutinize Harris's many policy shifts from 2020 to 2024. Harris has turned around her 2024 campaign since replacing Biden, giving Democrats new hope they can keep the White House after things looked grim for them following Biden's debate gaffes.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote Friday that her Democratic nomination acceptance speech lacked substance.
“Harris introduced herself to the American people on Thursday in a presentation that closely resembled hers at the Democratic convention this week: well-delivered, confident and optimistic, but largely devoid of policy content. Whether she can maintain this state of affairs for the next 12 weeks without explanation or exposure will determine whether she becomes the 47th president of the United States,” the Journal reported. The editorial board wrote.
The Journal noted that her draft speech was littered with a variety of “falsehoods,” including misleading attacks on Trump about abortion rights, Medicare and Social Security.
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Critics have noted that Vice President Kamala Harris has not held a formal press conference since President Biden ended his reelection campaign. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
“Harris has tried to lay out her vision for her presidency, but it's mostly empty platitudes. She says she'll provide 'opportunity' but doesn't say how. She says she'll solve the housing crisis but doesn't explain how or why it's happening during her term. And she says she'll lower prices without repeating her recent proposal to impose price controls,” the Journal editorial board wrote.
Harris will likely be asked in a serious interview about the extent to which she wants to be associated with Biden's record.
Other topics she may have to discuss include several important foreign policy issues, such as Israel and Ukraine.
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Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
