Kamala Harris said she will sit down for a media interview in late August after being repeatedly criticized by Republicans for not doing so.
Harris has not given an in-depth interview since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee.
But on Thursday night he told reporters: “I’ve spoken to my team. I want us to schedule an interview before the end of the month.”
She did not give a more specific date or which media outlet she would meet with.
Kamala Harris said she would sit down for a media interview in late August.
Harris will spend Friday campaigning in Arizona as part of her swing-state tour with running mate Tim Walz.
She spoke to reporters traveling with her and answered questions shortly after Republican rival Donald Trump held an hour-long news conference at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
In his remarks, Trump claimed Harris “isn’t smart enough to hold a press conference.”
“And I’m sorry, but we need smart people to run this country.”
Harris did not address some issues when asked by reporters, including criticism of Walz over his military record.
But the Democratic candidate confirmed that she will face Trump on September 10, in a debate that will be presented by ABC News.
But he did not accept Trump’s proposal to hold two more debates: on September 4 with Fox News or on September 25 with NBC.
In fact, he seemed to indicate that the Sept. 4 debate was off the table, saying he wanted to see if Trump shows up for the Sept. 10 event before making a decision.
“I’m happy to have that conversation about further debate after September 10, for sure,” he said.
Trump skipped all Republican primary debates and pulled out of a debate with Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The former president had also walked out of the ABC debate, which he had originally agreed to attend when Biden was still the nominee, before again agreeing to attend.
Harris declined to comment on Trump’s Thursday news conference, which ranged widely and touched on issues she was unfamiliar with, saying she didn’t watch it because she was too busy talking to voters. Harris was campaigning in Michigan at the time.
“I don’t dare to speculate on what he thinks,” he said when asked about some of Trump’s criticisms.
Trump was visibly angry at times during his press conference. He repeatedly attacked his Democratic rival, calling her “politically correct” as a candidate, questioning her intellect and questioning whether she should be on the ticket.
He dubbed her “the first loser” and repeatedly said she had gotten “no votes.”
She appeared to be referencing the 2020 Democratic primary. Harris, who was running for president at the time, dropped out of the race before the first nominating contest, which was the Iowa caucuses. Her campaign had been plagued by infighting and mismanagement.
She eventually became Biden’s running mate.
“She was the first loser,” Trump said. “She was the first to quit, and she did. She had no votes, no support, and she was a bad debater, a very bad debater, by the way.”
Trump will be campaigning in Montana on Friday night.
Donald Trump proposed three debates with Kamala Harris
Harris, in her brief exchange with reporters, also did not address criticism of Walz’s military record.
“Listen, I commend anyone who has stepped up to serve our country. And I think we all should,” he said.
The governor of Minnesota has been accused of abandoning his National Guard unit after being told it was being deployed to Iraq.
He served for more than two decades in the Army National Guard, and that was part of his appeal to Harris, who has no military experience.
The timing of his separation from the military came to light during his 2018 campaign for governor.
Retired Master Sergeant Thomas Behrends of the Minnesota National Guard accused Walz of “embellishing” his record and abandoning his unit when he left the Guard to run for Congress.
Walz dismissed the charges as a “bipartisan political attack.”
“After completing 20 years of service in 2001, I re-enlisted to serve our country for four more years after 9/11 and retired the year before my battalion was deployed to Iraq to run for Congress,” he wrote at the time.
Walz, 60, enlisted in the Guard at the age of 17. He became the highest ranking soldier enlisted to serve in Congress.