Vice President Kamala Harris has gone 32 days without holding an official press conference or sit-down interview since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
While he has been busy on the campaign trail, speaking at various events — including Monday on the first night of the Democratic National Convention — and giving informal comments to reporters at points since effectively replacing President Biden on the ticket last month, he has yet to hold a conference. official press or extensive interviews in the past month.
The left-leaning Washington Post editorial board challenged Harris for avoiding the media last week, saying of his opponent, “at least he’s asked.” The post said he would have to implement many policy changes, including on fracking, border security and private health insurance. Liberal columnist Perry Bacon also invited Harris to answer questions on Sunday.
Former President Trump sat down for a lengthy interview this week with comedian Theo Von and has also held two press conferences this month, in addition to a two-hour chat at X with supporter Elon Musk.
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Vice President Kamala Harris has gone more than four weeks without holding a press conference since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Liberal CNN anchor Jim Acosta blasted the Harris campaign on the issue last week, asking communications director Michael Tyler, “Are you going to kill you”? Tyler laughed before blurting out Harris’ vague promise to do an interview at the end of the month.
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“We are committed to directly engaging with the voters who will decide this election,” Tyler said. “And it will be complete with public meetings, sit-down interviews, press conferences, with all the digital assets at our disposal.”
GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance instead urged reporters to “show some self-awareness” and pushed Harris to “do the job of a presidential candidate” by talking to him.
Vance sat down with three Sunday shows on August 11, taking clear questions from CNN, CBS and ABC, while Harris and Walz sent surrogates.
Trump also faced a lack of media access during a lengthy press conference at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.
“He doesn’t know how to do a press conference; he’s not smart enough to do a press conference,” he said.
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Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance (Getty Images)
For all the talk among progressives about the importance of the media in the Trump era, some in Harris’ orbit object to her not talking to reporters.
“Who cares?” CNN commentator and former Bill Clinton aide Paul Begala addressed the issue on Wednesday.
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Former Obama administration ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul wrote in X that Harris’ “main goal” was to win.
“If the press conference helps him win, he should do it. If not, he shouldn’t do it. It’s simple. He has no ‘moral obligation’ to talk to the press. Tone down folks,” he wrote.
However, five years earlier, he wrote, “People who believe in truth and transparency need not fear the press.”
NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham expects Harris to follow President Biden’s 2020 playbook, when he was famously accused of hiding in a basement during the COVID pandemic.
“Kamala Harris really needs to hold a press conference. One would expect that when she names the vice president. But we can’t expect her to cut out Biden’s series of press conferences,” Graham told Fox News Digital.
“Since the 2020 campaign, we have witnessed the strange spectacle of Donald Trump giving massive access to networks that show him to be a fascist and defeat him every day, while Biden and Harris will not give interviews to media outlets that gurgle all about and ‘historic achievements,'” continued. “Either they think the press can’t be servile enough or they think they lack confidence in trying to put together a full sentence.”
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Critics note that Vice President Kamala Harris has not held an official press conference since President Biden ended his re-election campaign. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
The Harris campaign told Fox News Digital last week that it is working on a strategy to reach the best possible voters.
“With less than 90 days left, the Vice President’s top priority is to get the support of the voters who will decide this election,” the spokesperson said. “In the limited time and fragmented media environment, which requires us to be strategic, creative, and fast to send messages to these voters in the most effective way – through paid media, in the regulatory space, aggressive campaign schedule. , and certainly an interview that reaches our target voters It is far from losing Trump, the ineffective strategy of anger-posting, accosting journalists, and insulting the voters that will be necessary to win.
“If Donald Trump is so concerned about the success of VP Harris’ blitz campaign, he could, you know, get out on the campaign trail. We’d rather have him shine the spotlight on his losing election agenda: the ACA, kill the bipartisan border bill, and support a national abortion ban .
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Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
