Harris Campaign In 'Chaos' As Advisors Debate First Interview After Weeks Of Dodging The Media

After a month of Vice President Kamala Harris refusing to sit down for an interview with the media or hold a press conference, the Harris campaign is struggling to determine who should be the first mainstream media journalist to sit down with the Democratic presidential candidate. Harris, who largely stayed clear of interviews in recent years following an embarrassing encounter with NBC News host Lester Holt in 2021, committed at the beginning of her campaign that she would try to schedule an interview by the end of August, but senior aides are reportedly battling out whether that would be a good idea.

According to POLITICO, Harris's campaign advisors have been asking journalists about who she should interview as several networks lobby the campaign to be the first to get an exclusive interview with Harris after her unprecedented rise to become the party's nominee. While Harris set a strict deadline to get an interview "scheduled" before the end of the month, her campaign aides are debating the best path forward for a vice president who is prone to awkward moments in unscripted environments.

Some of the campaign's communications staff have emphasized the need to do an interview with a major anchor, but the vice president has reportedly disagreed with that suggestion, saying that she doesn't need to do a "showy" interview. POLITICO cites Harris's interview with "60 Minutes" on foreign policy last year, which left some in the campaign unhappy with her performance.

Former Harris communications advisor Ashley Etienne explained to the outlet that Harris needs to accomplish three goals with the interview. "The first goal would be to peel back some layers on the vice president and show some new dimensions to her. There are questions about her worldview and ethos and who she is as a leader," she said, adding that the second goal should "substantively draw some distinctions with Biden on some policy issues." Lastly, the interview, which Etienne suggests should be conducted by CBS News host Gayle King, should "show her visually as commander-in-chief. I would want her to do some in her office at the White House, show her on the road, and also take you inside her home."

Vice President Harris's lack of transparency on the campaign trail has left many in the public guessing about her policies. The campaign reportedly considered that Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) should do solo interviews but feared that he didn't know all of his running mate's policy stances. These internal discussions have been described by Democrats close to the campaign, according to Trump's former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, as "chaos" about the first media sit-down. "She can't do interviews and they know it - they want the first one to be with a far left sympathizer," he wrote. "Who will they pick? It doesn't matter. She's already shown the world she can't do what normal candidates do every day."

Vice President Harris has shown on multiple occasions that she struggles in unscripted conversations and interviews. Her campaign can continue to try to hide her from the media, but the more she remains hidden, the more the American people will become concerned about where she really stands on the issues.

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