Vice President Kamala Harris' interview drought finally ended Thursday, but after 43 days as the presumptive and now official Democratic presidential nominee, she has yet to hold an official press conference.
Under pressure to sit down for a substantive interview after weeks of stonewalling, he agreed to sit down with CNN's Dana Bash on Thursday in Georgia, along with his running mate, Tim Walz.
Harris defended some of her well-known policy shifts on issues like fracking and immigration, saying her “values” hadn’t changed. She was also asked if she regretted defending President Biden’s mental acuity after their debate, given that he dropped out of the race less than a month later. She also said she wanted to “turn the page on the last decade of what I think has been contrary to where the spirit of our country really lies.”
Bash noted that Harris had been vice president for three and a half of those years, but Harris responded that she was referring to leaving this “era” behind, apparently referring to Donald Trump's political rise that began in 2015.
Vice President Kamala Harris in her first media interview since ascending to the top of the Democratic ticket. (CNN)
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Following Harris' first one-on-one interview, NBC News Washington correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, known for her enthusiastic Biden-Harris coverage, seemed unimpressed.
“Harris continues to say 'my values haven't changed' without explaining why his positions have changed,” Alcindor wrote.
As for when she will hold a formal press conference, that day may never come. Sunday marks exactly six weeks since Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris; no other Democrat challenged her and she quickly secured the nomination from there.
“You won't see a single press conference from her for the next 75 days until Election Day,” Fox News contributor Joe Concha predicted earlier this month.
NewsBusters editor-in-chief Curtis Houck believes the vice president “obviously owes it to the American people to hold free press conferences where journalists can do so, unlike what happened.” [Thursday] With CNN's Dana Bash, ask follow-up questions.”
“For every easy comment from, say, ABC or NPR, you'd expect a liberal journalist to show some courage to do the right thing,” Houck told Fox News Digital.
“The interview itself had a positive vibe. From the beginning, with Bash’s introduction, which felt like a promotional video, CNN conveyed the perception that this was an event, not a comprehensive fact-finding mission,” Houck continued. “He missed a lot of topics with Harris. Allowing death row inmates to vote, shutting down ICE, defunding the police, ending private insurance, women’s sports, obstruction of the law, Jussie Smollett, the Minneapolis bail fund, systemic racism — those were just a few of the areas he could have touched on.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz in an interview with CNN.
Former President Trump has sought to highlight the contrast in media availability between the two, granting several lengthy interviews in recent weeks and also holding a pair of news conferences.
Harris received mixed reviews for her Thursday performance with Bash, where she answered most of the questions but nonetheless had support from Walz.
One point that drew praise from liberals was her outright dismissal of a question about Trump's suggestion that she didn't accept being black until adulthood. Calling Trump's attacks on race a tired “playbook,” she told Bash to move on to the next question.
But conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings said the Trump campaign should be “salivating” over one of the revelations in the interview, which appeared to be his embrace of so-called “Bidenomics.”
“She's making it clear that she will embrace and be a continuation of Biden's economic policy, of his record, of what they've done,” he said. “She showed no remorse, no regret, no introspection about anything they've done.”
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Democratic presidential candidate for vice president Kamala Harris speaks during her visit to SandFly Bar-B-Q in Savannah, Ga., Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In doing the interview, Harris met the goal she had set three weeks ago of scheduling one by the end of the month. It remains to be seen whether pressure will mount for her to do more and also her first solo interview as a candidate.
“My fear is that because Bash wasn't like, say, CBS' Steve Kroft or NPR's Steve Inskeep, who got excited watching Barack Obama, the liberal media will claim that this and the upcoming ABC debate are enough interview time for the campaign,” Houck said.
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Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
