Kamala Harris’ first one-on-one network interview since becoming the Democratic nominee will air Wednesday evening on MSNBC, the cable news channel announced.
Stephanie Ruhle will grill the vice president in Pittsburgh in a sit-down interview that will be broadcast at 7 p.m. ET during a two-hour edition of All In With Chris Hayes. Harris previously sat for a primetime interview with CNN’s Dana Bash but was accompanied by her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
She has since spoken to podcasts and local media outlets, and was interviewed last week by Oprah Winfrey in a livestreamed campaign event. But Harris has been criticized by press groups and others for restricting media access, a strategy reportedly backed by her campaign despite some reporters’ disapproval.
The most fierce criticism has come from Harris’ opponents, Donald Trump and JD Vance, who have repeatedly admonished her for supposedly avoiding the press.
Vance also complained about the upcoming MSNBC interview when the news was announced Wednesday. “This is legitimately pathetic for a person who wants to be president,” he wrote in a post on X, claiming that Ruhle has “explicitly endorsed Harris” and therefore “won’t ask hard Qs.”
His comment appeared to be a reference to Ruhle’s comments during her appearance last week on Real Time With Bill Maher. On the show, she got into a heated discussion with New York Times columnist Bret Stephens as he said he’d like to hear more answers on policy from Harris.
“Kamala Harris is not running for perfect, she’s running against Trump,” Ruhle said. “We have two choices. And so there are some things you might not know her answer to, and in 2024— unlike 2016 for a lot of the American people—we know exactly what Trump will do, who he is, and the kind of threat he is to democracy.”
Her comments apparently didn’t escape Trump’s attention, with the Republican nominee accusing Ruhle of being a “‘dumb as a rock’ bimbo” after the show aired.