Harris’ Oprah Event Is ‘Part of a Strategy’ to Dodge Interviews

On Thursday’s broadcast of “CNN NewsNight,” host Abby Phillip stated that 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ event with Oprah Winfrey is “part of a strategy that the Harris campaign is putting out there, which is to largely avoid doing interviews.” Because she doesn’t necessarily do well in interviews.

Phillip said, “These events are part of a strategy that the Harris campaign is putting out there, which is to largely avoid doing interviews. They’re not necessarily settings that — where she shines. So, they’re doing this instead, and this was very different for her. Might it work? Will this be enough? We have less than 50 days until the next election.”

Later, after, podcast co-host Van Lathan said that the Oprah event was a “home game” for Harris and that voters want to see her be willing to answer questions, Phillip agreed that voters want to see Harris show a willingness to answer questions and stated, “I think that this is a really important point, because the idea is not necessarily that she has to fill in all the blanks on all the policy. It’s actually that she needs to be the person that she was with Oprah in other settings as well.”