Time is running out for Vice President Kamala Harris to schedule the official interview that she and her team had promised for before the end of the month.
After officially winning the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Harris told reporters on the tarmac in Detroit earlier this month that she plans to schedule her first official interview as the party’s nominee before the end of August. Meanwhile, the exact date, time, location and medium that will conduct the interview remain a secret, even as Harris’ self-imposed deadline is fast approaching.
With only four days left this month, many questions about the interview have been swirling inside the Beltway. Some of those questions include who on the Harris campaign team will make the final decision about the interview, what message Harris wants to convey and who will be the figurehead who will ask her questions.
Speculation is mounting as Kamala Harris’ first interview as a candidate is not yet scheduled and September is just around the corner
Vice President Kamala Harris gives an interview with late-night talk show host Seth Meyers in 2022.
According to Politico, Harris campaign staff asked journalists who they thought the vice president should speak to. The outlet said CBS’ Norah O’Donnell and NBC’s Lester Holt were among the favorites. There were also reportedly internal disagreements about how Harris should approach the interview.
With Harris less than a week to get something on the calendar, some journalists have begun to comment on the process.
“I understood why Kamala Harris didn’t give interviews before – she was working on her policy proposals behind the scenes before the convention. But now there are no excuses. She has to give interviews, lots of them. We are electing a president here. That’s important,” said political commentator Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, which describes itself as “America’s largest progressive online news network.”
“The fact that there is so much internal turmoil over ONE INTERVIEW is itself deeply telling,” conservative columnist Marc Thiessen wrote Tuesday morning on X, formerly Twitter. “This is not a ‘big decision.’ It reveals their lack of confidence in her and turns something that should be routine into a high-stakes event.”
Kamala Harris “owes the American public a response,” says campaign adviser
As the pressure on Harris to give an interview grows by the day, some of her supporters are urging her to continue avoiding the media. Rick Wilson, former GOP strategist and co-founder of the Anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said last week that Harris “has absolutely no need to give interviews right now.”
Andrew Ross Sorkin interviews Vice President Kamala Harris during the New York Times annual DealBook Summit in November 2023. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Legendary Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino shared the same opinion, telling talk show host Bill Maher last Sunday: “Sometimes it’s just about winning.”
“I’m still going to vote for her no matter what she says in this shitty interview, so don’t screw it up,” Tarantino added.
QUENTIN TARANTINO TELLS KAMALA HARRIS TO CONTINUE DOING INTERVIEWS UNTIL THE ELECTION: “DON’T DO THAT SHIT”
HBO talk show host Bill Maher and legendary Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino (HBO | Getty Images)
According to Politico, Harris has had a lighter schedule than usual since the Democratic National Convention ended last week. The portal reported that Harris has used the time to prepare for her upcoming debate on September 10 and to work out her future media strategy.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to both the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment. The Harris campaign did not respond, but the Trump campaign referred Fox News Digital to a Tuesday press release criticizing Harris for not giving an interview for 37 days.
“Kamala is avoiding the press for a reason,” the press release said. “She doesn’t want to talk about her radical agenda.”
