CNN anchor Jim Acosta pressed a Kamala Harris campaign spokesman on Wednesday about why the vice president has been avoiding the media since she became the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate.
“I’m sure this is not going to be the first time you’ve heard this question, but the Trump campaign is also going after the vice president for not doing enough interviews, for not holding a press conference. Would it kill you guys to have a press conference? Why hasn’t she had a press conference?” Acosta asked the campaign’s communications director, Michael Tyler.
Tyler laughed and insisted Harris and her vice presidential running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), have been “busy crisscrossing this country since the launch of this campaign.”
“You saw the ways in which they went across the battleground states last week generating rallies of thousands, 10,000 here, 15,000 there,” he said.
The CNN host then pushed back by interrupting, “But Michael, you know a campaign really isn’t really a press conference. … Why hasn’t she had a press conference? She’s the vice president; she can handle the questions. Why not do it?”
“We absolutely are going to do it. You hear her take questions as she’s out on the stump, and as she said last week, we’re going to be having a sit-down interview here before the end of the month,” Tyler said. “What she’s going to be focused on and what this campaign is going to be focused on is communicating directly with the voters that are actually going to decide the pathway to 270 electoral votes.”
Acosta pressed again by asking, “Can she commit to a press conference this week?”
“We will commit to directly engage with the voters who are actually going to decide this election,” Tyler responded. “And that is going to be complete with rallies, with sit-down interviews, with press conferences, with all the digital assets that we have at our disposal.”
Harris was last seen giving a wandering answer to reporters on the tarmac next to President Joe Biden on Aug. 2 after greeting American hostages released in a Russian prisoner swap.
She has since had limited exchanges with the press, often avoiding reporter questions as she has been flying around the country for campaign stops.
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) has mocked her ignoring the media by walking up to the reporters staking out her campaign jet, suggesting that they were getting “lonely.”
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Former President Donald Trump held a press conference last week at his Mar-a-Lago estate and has recently been doing numerous long free-wheeling interviews on social media platforms, including with tech executive Elon Musk and internet influencer Adin Ross.
Trump announced on Wednesday that he planned to hold another press conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Thursday, Aug, 15.
