Harris’ campaign is defending its decision to turn the candidate’s long-awaited first media interview into a one-on-one with her running mate, Tim Walz, instead of a one-on-one.
In response to questions from The Daily Beast, Harris campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said Wednesday night that the joint interview was in keeping with tradition. “For at least 20 years, every candidate, Republican and Democrat, has had a joint interview,” Munoz told The Beast.
CNN, which secured the coveted interview, declined to comment on how the campaign presented the two-for-one situation to the network. CNN chief political correspondent and anchor Dana Bash will conduct the interview with Harris and Walz, which will be taped and is scheduled to air at 9 p.m. ET Thursday.
Another Harris campaign official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely, noted that a joint interview is a longstanding summer tradition, with the exception of one with John McCain and the late senator’s running mate, Sarah Palin, in 2008. Campaign officials said Harris will also do solo interviews during the campaign, but did not provide a timetable for when those might happen.
The CNN interview is Harris’ first opportunity since taking over as Democratic nominee earlier this summer to show that she has the breadth of knowledge and confidence to be president — though given the lead-up to this one interview, any missteps will likely be amplified and repeated ad nauseam by the Republican message machine.
The Harris campaign and CNN declined to comment on specific questions about the arrangements or contingencies that were set as part of the deal to secure Harris’ first substantive interview since her poor performance in a sit-down with NBC’s Lester Holt in 2021.
Vice President Kamala Harris celebrates with her husband, Second Gentleman of the United States Doug Emhoff, vice presidential nominee Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and his wife Gwen Walz.
Mike Segar/Reuters
Harris’ campaign is citing tradition to justify holding a joint interview between the president and vice president, but the face is the same: Harris has taken anything but a traditional path to becoming her party’s nominee. The 2024 presidential campaign is unprecedented and historic. Since President Joe Biden withdrew from his reelection race and handed the baton to his vice president, the overnight candidate has focused on traveling to battleground states, raising record amounts of money, building support and surging in the polls.
Regardless, CNN is excited about the ratings opportunities it has to seize. In announcing its selection by the Harris-Walz campaign, the network introduced its upcoming exclusive as follows: The First Interview: Harris and Walz, a CNN Exclusive will air on Thursday, August 29 and stream live on the network’s platforms.
It’s unclear exactly how the campaign decided that Harris and Walz would do a joint interview in their first appearance as official nominees. But one thing is for sure: The decision and the dynamic were determined by the campaign, not the network.
“You’ll take whatever you can get from this campaign now, since there have been no interviews,” a former senior TV network executive told The Daily Beast.
Harris has been criticized by her critics and the media for not giving unscripted media appearances, including press conferences and interviews.
Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris takes the stage on the fourth day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Mike Segar/Reuters
Republicans from Donald Trump and JD Vance to conservative columnists and right-wing Twitter trolls criticized Harris for choosing a network they called sympathetic and for bringing her wingman, Walz, with her on set.
“Kamala is clearly afraid to do an interview by herself and it’s pre-recorded so they can clean it up if things go south,” the Trump-Vance campaign said in a statement, accusing the Democratic nominee of intentionally choosing the Thursday before Labor Day weekend, when many people might not tune in.
Fox News’ Howie Kurtz believes Harris is exposing herself to more attacks from the right, not less. He suggests she and Walz should have done separate interviews to mitigate the scrutiny.
Meghan McCain, the former presidential candidate’s feisty daughter, who is beloved by journalists for her transparency and accessibility, also weighed in, saying her father “wasn’t hiding like a coward from the press like Kamala is doing right now.”
Harris and Walz began a bus tour of southern Georgia Wednesday afternoon, culminating in a rally in Savannah Thursday. The CNN interview is expected to be taped Thursday in Savannah, and portions of the interview could air Thursday afternoon.
