CNN announced on Tuesday during The Situation Room that they had won the unofficial sweepstakes between the liberal media broadcast and cable networks to score the first sit-down interview with the uber-sheltered Vice President Kamala Harris since she was coronated the Democrat Party’s presidential candidate on July 21 after President Biden was forced out.
Chief political correspondent Dana Bash will conduct the interview and, with running mate Tim Walz sitting in (as a crutch), it will be taped Thursday for a primetime special at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
“We are learning that CNN will hold an exclusive interview with Kamala Harris, her first since becoming the Democratic Party presidential nominee. Her running mate Tim Walz will join as well for the first interview. This is also their first interview together as the Democratic ticket,” announced fill-in host Alexander Marquardt, who’s still somehow on-air despite facing a serious defamation suit for allegedly smearing a decorated veteran.
CNN political director David Chalian shared the key details:
[An interview] now is happening on CNN with our colleague Dana Bash, our anchor and chief political correspondent, down in Georgia. Harris and Walz are going on this bus tour starting tomorrow in Georgia. The interview will take place on Thursday. It will air as a primetime special at 9:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN on Thursday. And as you noted, it is, of course, the first joint interview that the Democratic nominee and the vice presidential nominee are doing together.
Chalian sounded like the liberal tool that he’s always been, gushing over this as the “next sort of important hurdle for Kamala Harris and her campaign to jump, which is after a very successful six weeks here since she became the Democratic nominee, coalesced the party behind her, raised a ton of money, injected enthusiasm, got a running mate, pulled off a convention”.
Chalian saw no reason to criticize Harris for avoiding the press, simply observing that Thursday will be “the first time she’s going to take questions in a — in a concerted effort like this, in an interview format since Joe Biden, six weeks ago, upended this entire race by making that historic decision to bow out of his campaign, endorse his Vice President, Kamala Harris, and that sent her on to these lasts six weeks here.”
Marquardt even provided Team Harris’s spin, excusing her silence since “it’s been a busy 30-plus days” for her.
The two then dismissed any possibility voters care that she’s been so cagey (click “expand”):
CHALIAN: Yes, so I don’t think voters look at it like we do and say, oh, you — ‘do an interview’, ‘do an interview’, ‘take more questions’ —
MARQUARDT: [Inaudible] perhaps afterwards, perhaps when something —
CHALIAN: — we in the press love that — but exactly, but I do think voters learned valuable information from candidate seeking the highest office in the land about how they think in these unscripted moments and how they think through a pressing challenge or question that they are being asked, so they are valuable to voters. And, in fact, you know, Kamala Harris had a bit of a rough go with one of these big interviews out of the gate as Vice President. She sat down with NBC’s Lester Holt and she had some answers about whether or not why she hadn’t yet visited the border and her response to those questions have been, obviously, area of Republican critique, but throughout her first-year as vice president an area of Democratic concern about Harris’s performance. She obviously has worked to address much of that and we’ve seen a far different Harris in these last six weeks on the campaign trail, a far more surefooted Harris. But now is the opportunity to hear her ruminate allowed with Dana asking her about her policy positions, her plans for the future, her plans for the country in an unscripted setting. And of course, to see the Democratic ticket with each other — interacting with each other.
As for what issues Bash will discuss, Chalian argued that the questions (read: softballs) will include “the most important issues, time and again in every poll, the economy is number one above all, the cost of living, those are things that Kamala Harris herself addressed in that speech in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago, but to flesh that out, no doubt.”
He conceded “there are a whole host of issues of policy positions, both foreign policy and domestically that we just haven’t heard from her yet in this capacity as the Democratic nominee.”
Before shifting to a commercial break and the real issue they care about (the new, superceding Trump indictment in D.C.), Marquardt brought in correspondents Kristen Holmes and Eva McKend for how both campaigns will look to shape the interview.
McKend showed her hackery:
This from CNN's Eva McKend reacting to her network winning the Kamala Harris interview sweepstakes, is low-key why she's an underated journalist in terms of being a liberal hack pic.twitter.com/VgJpfcNSG2
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 27, 2024
To see the relevant transcript from August 27, click “expand.”
CNN’s The Situation Room
August 27, 2024
5:01 p.m. EasternALEXANDER MARQUDT: But first to some other breaking news in the presidential race. We are learning that CNN will hold an exclusive interview with Kamala Harris, her first since becoming the Democratic Party presidential nominee. Her running mate Tim Walz will join as well for the first interview. This is also their first interview together as the democratic ticket. Let’s bring our CNN political director David Chalian. So, David, what are we learning?
DAVID CHALIAN: Yeah. I mean, we have been waiting to see this next sort of important hurdle for Kamala Harris and her campaign to jump, which is after a very successful six weeks here since she became the Democratic nominee, coalesced the party behind her, raised a ton of money, injected enthusiasm, got a running mate, pulled off a convention. All of that though Alex, very scripted. Now, a couple other things coming up. They said they were going to schedule an interview — a sit-down interview, an extensive interview before the end of the month. That now is happening on CNN with our colleague Dana Bash, our anchor and chief political correspondent, down in Georgia. Harris and Walz are going on this bus tour starting tomorrow in Georgia. The interview will take place on Thursday. It will air as a primetime special at 9:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN on Thursday. And as you noted, it is, of course, the first joint interview that the Democratic nominee and the vice presidential nominee are doing together. But it’s also her first interview, the Vice President, as the Democratic candidate. This is the first time she’s going to take questions in a — in a concerted effort like this, in an interview format since Joe Biden, six weeks ago, upended this entire race by making that historic decision to bow out of his campaign, endorse his Vice President, Kamala Harris, and that sent her on to these lasts six weeks here. And there are a lot of questions that have been lingering out there for her to answer as we go into this fall campaign.
MARQUARDT: In speaking with the campaign, they’ve made the point that you just did. It’s been a busy 30 plus days. She’s had a lot to do, not least of which was last week at the DNC, but as you note, that was all very scripted. So how much more revealing can an interview like this before the voters and I guess more importantly for those undecideds who are still going to be making up their minds in the next few weeks?
CHALIAN: Yes, so I don’t think voters look at it like we do and say, oh, you — ‘do an interview’, ‘do an interview’, ‘take more questions’ —
MARQUARDT: [Inaudible] perhaps afterwards, perhaps when something —
CHALIAN: — we in the press love that — but exactly, but I do think voters learned valuable information from candidate seeking the highest office in the land about how they think in these unscripted moments and how they think through a pressing challenge or question that they are being asked, so they are valuable to voters. And, in fact, you know, Kamala Harris had a bit of a rough go with one of these big interviews out of the gate as Vice President. She sat down with NBC’s Lester Holt and she had some answers about whether or not why she hadn’t yet visited the border and her response to those questions have been, obviously, area of Republican critique, but throughout her first-year as vice president an area of Democratic concern about Harris’s performance. She obviously has worked to address much of that and we’ve seen a far different Harris in these last six weeks on the campaign trail, a far more surefooted Harris. But now is the opportunity to hear her ruminate allowed with Dana asking her about her policy positions, her plans for the future, her plans for the country in an unscripted setting. And of course, to see the Democratic ticket with each other — interacting with each other.
MARQUARDT: And, as political director, you’re certainly going to have a hand in helping Dana with those questions and formulating those. What do you think are some of the issues that Dana is going to have to focus on?
CHALIAN: Listen, I think it is pretty clear from all the surveys out there what the American people are focused on. The — the most important issues, time and again in every poll, the economy is number one above all, the cost of living, those are things that Kamala Harris herself addressed in that speech in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago, but to flesh that out, no doubt. And it is what we hear day in and day out from Donald Trump and JD Vance on the campaign trail on the issue of the economy. It’s what we see both the Harris and Trump campaigns spending all their advertising money on right now, sort of going back and forth in these battleground states on the airwaves over the economy. So, that’s issue number one for voters, but there are a whole host of issues of policy positions, both foreign policy and domestically that we just haven’t heard from her yet in this capacity as the Democratic nominee.
MARQUARDT: So, this debate is can be happening on Thursday, which is —
CHALIAN: It’s an interview, yep.
MARQUARDT: — excuse me. Yes, it’s an interview. But it’s happening just two weeks before the September 10 debate. So this will be her first unscripted moment essentially, since the DNC —
CHALIAN: Yeah.
MARQUARDT: — and in this — in this interview fashion.
CHALIAN: Exactly.
