CNN contributor Scott Jennings mocked Vice President Kamala Harris for bringing her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, along for her long-awaited CNN interview. After more than a month of anticipation, the Harris campaign announced on Tuesday that Harris and Walz had recorded a pre-taped interview with the network. Conservative critics and the Trump campaign have long criticized Harris for avoiding the press and interviews, highlighting that former President Donald Trump has participated in numerous long-form podcasts, interviews, and press conferences since Harris became the de facto Democratic nominee.
During an on-air segment with Anderson Cooper, CNN’s Scott Jennings ridiculed Vice President Kamala Harris for her reluctance to sit for an interview with Dana Bash, the latter of whom has frequently criticized Trump, promoted the Russian collusion narrative, and praised the Biden-Harris administration on multiple occasions. “Scott, it’s the first time the vice president going to be sitting down for an interview. She’s doing it with her vice-presidential candidate, Tim Walz. Do you think that blunts attacks from Republicans or is the line now going to be, well, why isn’t she doing it by yourself?” Cooper asked.
“Yes, I do think people are going to bring that up,” Jennings began. “Look, I have great confidence and Dana and CNN to do this. I think it’s incredibly weak, weak sauce to show up with your running mate. The fact that they don’t have enough confidence in her to let her sit herself the actual top of the ticket and do a single interview.” Jennings further speculated that the decision reveals a growing lack of confidence in Harris’ abilities, despite ongoing attempts to project enthusiasm and support for her campaign. “So yes, I think Republicans are going to think it’s pretty weak to show up with effectively someone to take up half the time,” he said. In a follow-up X post, Jennings mocked Harris for bringing her “emotional support animal” to the interview.
Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard offered her views on why she thinks Harris is likely “afraid” to debate Trump during an interview on conservative radio host David Webb’s program on Tuesday. “Given what we’ve seen so far and this debate over the debate, what’s your take?” Webb asked to kick off the segment.
“First of all, the fact that there is a debate over the debate is very telling in and of itself. You know, Donald Trump’s campaign and Kamala Harris’s campaign, they agreed to this debate on September 10th, to the same rules that applied during Trump Biden debate on CNN that we already saw,” Gabbard, a U.S. Army veteran and former Hawaii congresswoman who endorsed Trump last week, began.
“Now all of a sudden, we’re just two weeks out from, just under two weeks out from this debate that they already agreed to and Kamala Harris is trying to change the rules. She wants it to be a debate where they allow the mics to be live the entire time, where she can bring her notes in to the debate with her, and where they will be seated for the entire debate,” Gabbard continued. “President Trump’s position has been pretty clear where he says, hey, look, we already agreed to the terms of this debate. We should stick with those terms, which is the same rules that he debated Joe Biden under.
“These debates are an opportunity for voters to be able to look at and listen to these candidates running for president and compare and contrast their record, their positions and their capability,” Gabbard added. “You know, the problem with Kamala Harris is not – her wanting to bring notes into this debate reinforces what we already know to be true, which is she absolutely struggles if she is not using a script, if she is not using a teleprompter.
“And in this case, apparently, if she doesn’t have notes in front of her, telling her what her position is supposed to be, what her answer should be on different issues. They’re making this request in the last hours here, the last days before this debate, really reveals more of her weakness and her vulnerability. And quite frankly, if this debate still happens, where President Trump has an opportunity to challenge her on her record because she has quite a significant record on all of the important issues of the day. And let her respond,” she said. “What voters will very likely see is how unprepared she is and how she struggles without having her pollsters telling her what she is supposed to say.”
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.