Even when Kamala Harris gives her first interview, Sen. JD Vance thinks it will be ‘too little, too late.’
Donald Trump’s running mate said the vice president will remain behind her teleprompter if the media continues to run flowery stories about her without her having to answer questions.
Vance told DailyMail.com that Harris’ team likely feels it is better to keep her on script, after 25 days without a press conference or formal meeting with reporters and despite the overwhelmingly positive coverage.
Meanwhile, the vice president is facing criticism for deciding to first release an on-camera conversation with running mate Gov. Tim Walz, in which they discuss lighthearted topics like tacos and music, rather than accepting one of the major media outlets’ offers for a serious conversation.
But the Harris-Walz campaign has promised that the Democratic presidential candidate will participate in her first media interview before the end of the month.
Sen. JD Vance told reporters on Trump Force Two on Thursday that he doesn’t think there’s any reason for Kamala Harris to step out from behind the teleprompter
“I think it’s always too little, too late, because the campaign is every day, right, you can’t go back. We’ve got about 82 days until the election now,” Vance said aboard Trump Force Two.
“If I were her, I would take this as an opportunity to persuade the American people and talk to them.”
He continued: “I find it interesting that she actually sees this as an opportunity to stall and avoid the American people for as long as possible.”
Unlike the Democratic candidate, Vance and Trump have held multiple press conferences in recent weeks and continue to give interviews to the press.
During campaign rallies in Michigan on Wednesday and Pennsylvania on Thursday, the vice presidential candidate allowed reporters to ask him questions at gatherings for his supporters.
He said it was important to be able to answer difficult questions.
JD and Usha Vance visited New Kensington, Pennsylvania on Thursday to speak to a mostly veteran audience at a VFW
Kamala Harris hasn’t given an interview in the 25 days since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, but she did release a video call with running mate Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday in which the two talked about tacos and music.
“If you want to be vice president of the American people, you have to answer their questions and try to earn their votes. It’s that simple,” Vance said during his roughly 26-minute speech at Byron Center in Michigan on Wednesday.
“You have to stand in front of the American people and answer the tough questions if you want to do this job,” he continued. “And it’s outrageous that Kamala Harris is running from the media — but more importantly, she’s running from the American people. That’s outrageous.”
“I’ve never in the history of my life seen a presidential campaign where someone runs to be president of the United States and is afraid of you,” Vance added, pointing to reporters gathered at the front of the stage.
“If you can’t answer questions from the media, do you think you can stand up to Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping? If you’re afraid to answer for the American people, how can we trust you to sit in a room with world leaders and represent the American people.”
But Vance, responding to Trump Force Two on Thursday to DailyMail.com, said he understands why Harris’ team wants to keep her behind the podium.
“I mean, if the media is going to write positive stories about her without her actually having to talk to them, then maybe you’re better off hiding behind a teleprompter because you don’t have any good ideas,” the Ohio senator joked.
“I mean, I think the Time Magazine profile in particular was really shocking,” he continued. “The Time Magazine cover, they gave her a very flattering profile without her even speaking to the media. I think it just suggests that fundamentally, a large portion of the American press is an organ of the DNC and behaves that way. And if they’re going to continue to behave that way, why would she come out from behind the teleprompter?