‘Drumbeat Is Growing’: CNN Panel Warns Longer Harris, Walz Duck Interviews, ‘The More Scared They Look’

A CNN panel warned on Thursday that the longer Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, avoid interviews, the more frightened they appear.

Harris has not done any interviews since launching her campaign after President Joe Biden withdrew and endorsed her on July 21, and neither has Walz, since his selection as her running mate on Tuesday. CNN’s media correspondent Hadas Gold and political commentator S.E. Cupp, on “CNN News Central,” said their strategy will only receive more scrutiny and backlash as time passes.

WATCH:

'Drumbeat Is Growing': CNN Panel Warns Longer Harris, Walz Duck Interviews, 'The More Scared They Look' pic.twitter.com/g17ByU0nqx

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 8, 2024

“A drumbeat is growing, and it’s a drumbeat not only from the Trump campaign, who’s going to keep up this attack line, but it’s also coming from reporters themselves,” Gold said. “The veteran … former White House correspondent, Ron Fournier, he said that every day that she doesn’t talk to the media is what he called ‘political malpractice.’ And we’re going to hear this drumbeat growing more and more until she does finally sit down for an interview, and for right now, also, it’s an easy attack line for the Trump campaign to use.”

Fournier, who worked for The Associated Press, also told The Daily Beast it is “not good for democracy.”

“It’s not a great look, acting as if you don‘t need the media, you don’t care about answering these questions. That you’re above it, that you can ride on vibes, and you know, they’re riding on vibes and I get that. This is a very truncated campaign. They’ve had to do everything very quickly,” Cupp said. And I believe that they will sit down with reporters, but they need to do it … These don‘t have to be fatal questions, but they need to answer for that and they need to show that they’re tough enough to do that. And that they’re not too scared to do that. And the longer they take to sit down, the more scared they look.”

CNN’s Van Jones also warned on Wednesday that Harris’ interview avoidance “can’t last,” noting that it’s essential for anyone running for president.

“There’s a difference between visibility and accountability, and being visible is, is great. She’s not hiding. They’re out there, they’re doing rallies, they’re meeting with voters, they’re shaking hands they’re delivering one liners, that’s great,” Cupp said earlier in the segment. “And I think Kamala Harris is giving Tim Walz a moment, as well, to introduce himself to the country. But they also need to be held accountable, accountable for their records, hers as vice president and senator, his as a governor and a representative in the House. And they need to be accountable for an agenda that they have yet to present. Voters do want to know, and especially those swing-state voters, guys.”

“Swing-state voters don’t want to be told by a vice presidential candidate to be afraid of childless cat ladies. They want to be told, ‘I have a solution to a problem that’s really important to you.’ And those swing-state voters, those undecideds are undecided for a reason because no one’s giving them those solutions yet. So Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will have to explain what their agenda is. They’ll have to reconcile their records,” she added. “Tim Walz in Minnesota has a very progressive record, some social policies that are far outside where the majority of American voters are. He’ll have to explain that, he’ll have to explain what the Harris agenda will incorporate of that, if anything. Will they merge their policies? Voters do want to know that.”

Walz has a far-left record on immigration issues, opposing border enforcement and backing pro-illegal immigration policies while he was governor and during his tenure as a congressman. He also signed the “Trans Refuge Bill” bill in 2023, which enabled the state of Minnesota to make custody determinations if a child is not provided access to sex-change operations.