Harris spokesperson spars over lack of interviews: 'Acting like she’s in the witness protection program’
A spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign went on offense against criticism of the Democratic candidate's lack of media availability and insisted she will do more interviews as the election approaches.
"America's Newsroom" co-anchor Dana Perino on Friday asked Harris-Walz campaign senior spokesperson Ian Sams if it is a "risk" for Harris to "put all [her] chips" on next Tuesday's face off against former President Trump when she has done little Q&A outside of debate prep.
"Well, I reject that," Sams said. "She sat down with Dana Bash for a long interview on CNN that aired."
"One interview in 47 days," Perino replied.
Sams suggested that the media is only paying attention to Harris now that she is the presidential candidate and has glossed over the 90 interviews she did this year before becoming the nominee.
"People maybe weren't paying attention or listening. She's taking questions from reporters on the campaign trail so far in this campaign. People who are covering her every single day, she's going to do more interviews and talk to the press more and take more reporter questions," he said.
"Ian, come on," Perino interjected.
She rejected Sams' claim that Harris has engaged with media on the trail and claimed that simply telling the press that debate prep is going well is not equivalent to answering tough questions from reporters.
"Do the American voters not need to hear from her directly? She wants to be the commander-in-chief. We paid attention to her. And you guys didn't like that either," Perino continued.
"I hear the question. And it's funny because it's like you're acting like she's in the witness protection program. She's been traveling across the battleground states, talking to thousands of people in packed arenas, arenas that are much more packed than what President Trump is speaking," Sams said.
Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have sat down for at least 39 interviews since the Harris-Walz ticket was formed, compared to just six non-scripted interviews for the Democratic presidential ticket thus far.
Harris has two new taped interviews that will air on September 6.
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, ended their extended interview drought last week when they talked with CNN's Dana Bash on Thursday in Georgia after weeks of stonewalling the media.
The highly publicized interview was the first time Harris had sat down with a journalist since well before she selected Walz, on August 6, while Trump and Vance had given interviews to a variety of news organizations during that period.
Trump and Harris will meet on Sept. 10 at a debate hosted by ABC News.
Fox News' Brian Flood and David Rutz contributed to this report.