Pressure mounts for Harris to do sit-down interviews, press conferences

WASHINGTON (TND) — Calls for Vice President Kamala Harris to sit down for an interview and hold press conferences are growing louder. She's done neither since President Joe Biden left the race three weeks ago and she rose to the top of the Democratic ticket.

"It’s striking that we haven’t seen her answer questions yet," an ABC News reporter pointed out during an interview with radio host Charlemagne the God. Charlemagne responded, "I don’t know why she hasn’t done any interviews yet."

TV personality Stephen A. Smith, who said he's a Democratic voter also weighed in.

She’s bright. She’s accomplished...what are you doing avoiding interviews? What are you doing using pep rallies as press conferences?

A Harris campaign spokesperson danced around the question when CNN pressed on the topic.

"Would it kill you guys to have a press conference? Why hasn’t she had a press conference?" asked the anchor.

The vice president and Gov. Walz have been busy crisscrossing this country generating thousands at rallies," responded Michael Tyler, the communications director for the Harris-Walz campaign.

"You know a rally is not a press conference," the anchor pushed back.

Donald Trump is taking the opposite approach.

"Like he’s everywhere," pointed out Charlemagne. "You saw him at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention...He’s going to be on with Elon Musk."

The former president also gave a one-on-one interview with Sinclair's WLOS this week.

Trump is now turning Harris’s media avoidance into an attack line.

"She’s not doing any news conferences. You know why she’s not doing it because she can’t do a news conference. She doesn’t know how to do a news conference. She’s not smart enough to do a news conference," said Trump during a press conference last Thursday at Mar-a-Lago.

"I think if Kamala simply avoids press conferences and she has one or two debates, it’s hard to say whether she’ll get away with it or not," said Richard Vatz, a professor emeritus at Towson University.

Some on the Left like Smith argue Democrats will only hurt themselves by attempting to shield another politician from criticism.

"Tell folks like myself and others to shut the hell up...We ain’t going for that. Because that’s what y'all was telling us when we saw Biden slippin' and look what the mess that caused," said Smith. "This ain't the first time democrats tried to, you know what they call it, grease the skids."

Spokesperson Tyler said the campaign does plan for Harris to do a sit-down interview by the end of the month, but so far they have not given any details on a date or a specific outlet.