‘Training Walz’: Harris brings along VP pick for her first sit-down Interview

(Daily Caller News Foundation) – Vice President Kamala Harris is set to sit down for her first interview since launching her campaign with CNN, and her running mate Gov. Tim Walz will be appearing alongside her.

Harris and her campaign have faced growing pressure over the last month as the vice president has failed to hold a press conference or sit down for an interview since launching her bid for president. CNN announced Tuesday that its own Dana Bash will get the first chance to interview Harris in a segment airing Thursday, though the vice president will be accompanied by Walz.

The vice president previously told reporters that she was hoping to get an interview scheduled by the end of the month. While deliberating whether Harris should do an interview, campaign aides were asking reporters for advice on who the sit-down should be done with, Politico reported. Harris disagrees with the idea that she needs to do a “big showy interview” at this point in the race, two people told Politico ahead of the CNN news.

“Kamala To Do Her First Interview With Training Walz,” Daily Caller Editorial Director Vince Coglianese tweeted.

Kamala To Do Her First Interview With Training Walz https://t.co/Acw0zSZluB

— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) August 27, 2024

Part of the pressure for Harris to participate in a sit-down interview can be attributed to campaign officials’ frequent reversing of the vice president’s policy stances. In the first few weeks of her campaign, aides issued anonymous statements reversing Harris’s 2020 stances on fracking, mandatory federal gun buybacks and the abolition of private health insurance, according to the New York Times.

The vice president has also failed to put forth a policy platform since launching her campaign. Though she’s unveiled some economic policies, Harris’s campaign website does not list any of her stances and instead features bios about herself and Walz.

Before Walz was scheduled to appear alongside Harris for the CNN interview, aides were reportedly weighing how to deploy the governor because of concern he would not “have a full command of where Harris is on every issue,” Politico reported.

Conservatives were quick to criticize Harris for not standing alone in her first big Q and A with a reporter.

“Joe Biden can’t get into a car or up a flight of stairs without a handler, and apparently Kamala Harris can’t even talk to a CNN reporter by herself. Embarrassing,” Sean Davis, the CEO of The Federalist, tweeted.

The Trump campaign has repeatedly hit Harris for dodging the media, and officials previously told the Daily Caller that part of the plan to draw contrast to the vice president is to deploy Senator J.D. Vance in various swing states.

“BREAKING: On Thursday — 39 days since being installed as the Democrat nominee — Kamala will sit for her first formal interview,” the Trump War Room reacted in a tweet. “Joint, since she’s not competent enough to do it on her own. Taped, so her handlers have time to play damage control.