Ian Sams, a spokesman for Vice President Harris' campaign, took a light-hearted dig at Fox News host Dana Perino in an interview on Friday.
“Isn't it risky to bet everything on one debate when she has almost no time to answer questions from anyone outside of debate preparation?” Perino said. Sam asked. He mentioned Harris on Fox News' “America's Newsroom.”
Sams responded, “No, I don't agree with that. She did an extensive interview with Dana Bash on CNN…”
Perino interjected, “One interview in 47 days?”
In a later conversation, he claimed the host was acting as if Harris was “in a witness protection program.”
“She's traveled through battleground states and spoken to audiences of thousands in packed arenas,” added Sams, a former oversight and spokesperson for the White House Counsel's Office.
Harris' recent interview with Bash comes after she came under increasing pressure to do so after President Biden decided to drop out of the race and she rose to the top of the Democratic field. Harris also came under heavy criticism for her interview with vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D).
“It's clear that her team and her party believe she needs a babysitter,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, said last week. “That's why they're putting her running mate on stage with her, so that if things play out as we just saw, he can answer questions for her, as she has done in previous interviews.”
Despite the criticism, the vice president made it through the interview without any major gaffes or headline-grabbing.
Sams' defense comes as Harris and former President Trump are scheduled to go head-to-head in a debate hosted by ABC News next Tuesday night.
Biden's poor performance in the last presidential debate led to calls from Democrats for him to drop out of the race, which he ultimately did in late July and endorsed Harris.
