Kamala Harris finally reveals when she’ll do a media sitdown interview 18 DAYS after dodging the press
Kamala Harris said she will give a media interview before the end of August, after being repeatedly criticized by Republicans for not doing so.
Harris has not given an in-depth interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
But she told reporters Thursday night that “I’ve spoken to my team. I want us to schedule an interview by the end of the month.”
She did not give a specific date or which news outlet she would speak to.
Kamala Harris said she would appear for a media interview in late August
Harris will spend Friday in Arizona campaigning as part of her Arizona state tour with her running mate Tim Walz.
She spoke to reporters traveling with her and answered questions shortly after her Republican rival Donald Trump held an hour-long press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
In his remarks, Trump claimed that Harris “isn’t smart enough to do a press conference.”
“And I think that’s a shame, but we need smart people to lead this country.”
Harris did not address a number of issues when asked by reporters, including criticism of Walz over his military record.
But the Democratic candidate confirmed she will face Trump on September 10, a debate hosted by ABC News.
But she did not accept Trump’s proposal for two more debates: on Sept. 4 with Fox News or on Sept. 25 with NBC.
In fact, she seemed to indicate that the September 4 debate was off the table. She wanted to see if Trump would show up at the September 10 event before making a decision.
“I am certainly pleased that we can have that conversation about an additional debate after September 10,” she said.
Trump skipped all Republican primary debates and withdrew from one debate with Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The former president had also withdrawn from the ABC debate, which he had originally agreed to attend when Biden was still the nominee, before again agreeing to attend.
Harris declined to comment on Trump’s rambling, noncommittal press conference on Thursday, saying she missed it because she was too busy talking to voters. Harris was campaigning in Michigan at the time.
“I don’t want to speculate anymore about what he thinks,” she said when asked about some of the criticisms of Trump.
Trump was visibly angry at points in his press conference, repeatedly lashing out at his Democratic rival, calling her the “politically correct” choice for a nominee, questioning her intellect and questioning whether she should be on the ticket at all.
He called her the “first loser” and repeatedly said she had received “no votes.”
He appeared to be referring to the 2020 Democratic primaries. Harris, then running for president, dropped out of the race before the first nomination battle, the Iowa caucuses. Her campaign was plagued by infighting and mismanagement.
She eventually became Biden’s running mate.
“She was the first loser,” Trump said. “She was the first to give up, and she gave up. She had no votes, no support, and by the way, she was a bad debater, a very bad debater.”
Trump campaigns in Montana on Friday night.
Donald Trump proposed three debates with Kamala Harris
Harris also did not address criticism of Walz’s military record in her brief conversations with reporters.
“Listen, I commend everyone who has volunteered to serve our country. And I think we all should,” she said.
Minnesota’s governor was accused of deserting his National Guard unit after learning it was being deployed to Iraq.
He served in the Army National Guard for more than twenty years, which was one of the reasons he approached Harris, as he has no military experience whatsoever.
The timing of his retirement from the military became clear during his campaign for governor in 2018.
Retired Minnesota National Guard Sergeant Major Thomas Behrends accused Walz of “embellishing” his record and abandoning his unit when he left the Guard to run for Congress.
Walz rejected the allegations, calling them a “political attack from both sides.”
“After serving for 20 years in 2001, I re-enlisted to serve our country for another four years after 9/11. I retired the year before my battalion deployed to Iraq to run for Congress,” he wrote at the time.
Walz, 60, enlisted in the Guard at age 17. He became the highest ranked soldier who would serve in Congress.