SAVANNAH, GA. – Former President Trump is weighing in – in advance – on the first interview with his 2024 election rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, since she replaced President Biden at the top of the Democratic national ticket.
Trump urged CNN in a social media post Thursday morning to conduct a “fair but tough interview” with Harris. If that happened, the former president argued, “it would expose her as totally incompetent and unfit for the office of president.”
Harris has been riding a wave of energy, enthusiasm and momentum, both in the polls and in fundraising, since she succeeded her boss as her party’s presidential candidate nearly six weeks ago.
So far, however, she has avoided holding a press conference or giving an important interview.
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Vice President Kamala Harris visits SandFly Bar-B-Q in Savannah, Georgia, Wednesday, August 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
And that has brought him sustained fire from Trump, his Republican running mate and Senator JD Vance of Ohio, their campaign team and Republican allies.
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“She can’t answer questions,” Trump accused earlier this week as he answered reporters’ questions during a stopover in Northern Virginia. “Why doesn’t she do something like I’m doing right now?”
And he claimed that the vice president “cannot talk. We cannot have another fool as president.”
Former President Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office in Howell, Michigan on August 20, 2024. (Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
Vance has repeatedly argued during the campaign that the vice president is “running a basement campaign in which she refuses to go before the free press and actually answer their questions.”
In response, Harris’ campaign team accused Republicans of “dodging and avoiding questions.”
“Trump is confused and Vance is dancing: The Republican campaign team is dodging every question from reporters and lying,” was the headline of an email from Harris’ campaign team to reporters on Monday.
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Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will meet with CNN’s Dana Bash on Thursday afternoon before the vice president’s keynote address at what is expected to be a large rally in Savannah, a historic coastal city in southeast Georgia, a crucial swing state. CNN has said the interview will air on prime-time television a few hours later.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz step off their campaign bus in Savannah, Georgia, on August 28, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
“The vice president of the United States has, after 40 days, mustered enough stamina to finally sit down for a joint interview and talk to reporters and lay out what we hope is her vision for America,” Corey Lewandowski, senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, told reporters hours before the interview.
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“It is no coincidence, however, that Kamala and Tim’s first interview is taking place on the Thursday before a long weekend, because we know that even though the interview has not yet taken place, they want to sweep under the rug the news of how devastating their policies will be for this great country,” Lewandowski claimed.
Ahead of the interview, Trump and his allies have laid out the questions CNN wants Harris to ask, with the top of the list asking the vice president why she has changed her stance on key issues such as border security, immigration and crime in recent years.
Get the latest updates on the 2024 election, exclusive interviews and more in our digital election hub, Fox News.
