Keisha Lance Bottoms, a senior adviser to the Harris-Waltz campaign, on Tuesday dismissed Vice President Kamala Harris' avoidance of interviews as an issue that only concerns the press and “insiders.”
Harris has not held a sit-down interview or press conference since launching her presidential campaign on July 21. Bottoms said on “CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta” that no one she's spoken to during the campaign has expressed concern about the vice president not sitting down for interviews. (Related article: “Kamala was in on it too”: Pro-Trump PAC pulls anti-Kamala Harris ad within two hours of Biden's departure)
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Harris campaign adviser says 'only the press and insiders' care about VP not giving interviews pic.twitter.com/JmiV8pJ6Uj
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“I think this is just an inside conversation. Of course, media people would love to see her do interviews and insiders are saying she'll sit down for an interview, but not one of the hundreds of people I've spoken to about this campaign has said they care about whether she'll sit down for an interview, and I believe that's going to happen,” Bottoms said. “But what we saw from Kamala Harris at the convention last week was someone who is very commanding, who is ready to lead and has been a leader.”
Michael Tyler, communications director for the Harris-Waltz campaign, stated on August 14 that VP Harris intends to sit down and give an interview by the end of August. Democratic strategist James Carville told Republican strategist Lance Troeber on Monday that it would be ridiculous to ask Harris to give an interview at this stage in the campaign.
“Where does it say you have to do a long-form interview in the first five weeks of a campaign? That's a myth,” Carville said. “It's ridiculous. She's pretty busy and doing pretty well. She has a lot more to do than just sit and wait and do a long-form interview that the press is going to forget about anyway.”
Mark Penn, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, said Monday that Harris's avoidance of the press is undemocratic because it leaves voters poorly informed.
“In my opinion, there should be three presidential debates instead of one. There should be a position paper on the website instead of a donation page,” Penn said. “And he should go before the press every two or three days. Because if voters aren't informed, it's not a democracy with a real vote.”
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