CNN's Erin Burnett questions whether it's 'better' for Harris to continue declining interview requests

CNN's Erin Burnett wondered Wednesday whether Vice President Harris would be better off ignoring media requests for interviews as she continues to avoid the press in the early weeks of her campaign.

“She hasn’t done a major interview in a while and certainly not since the announcement,” Burnett told media personality Charlamagne Tha God. “Are you going to talk to her soon? What do you think? What do you think she should do? Or is she better off ignoring all these calls to talk and just keep doing what she’s doing?”

Harris has not held a news conference or given a formal interview in the 32 days since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee.

“I think what she did worked because you know what she did was she got on the ground. And I think, you know, we forget sometimes the on-field game in the digital age that we live in, the interview age. Sometimes, you know – not sometimes, all the time, when you're actually on the field shaking hands, you know, kissing babies, touching people, that goes a long way,” Charlamagne responded.

CNN's Erin Burnett questions whether Vice President Harris should continue to avoid the media as her poll numbers have only increased. (Screenshot/CNN)

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“She'll have interviews after the DNC. But you know, this week, I think she has more important things to do, like get out there tomorrow and give a speech that's going to hit the mark,” he continued.

Liberal commentator Angela Rye argued during the conversation that Harris had conversations with reporters off-air.

“People spend a lot of time talking about what she does on camera. There’s also a behind-the-camera side to her. And I think one thing that’s very consistent with Kamala Harris is that you can believe she’s having conversations. She’s going to have them on air, and she’s certainly going to have them off air, and there’s no gap in between,” Rye said.

Aside from a few brief interviews with the press and off-the-record conversations with reporters on her campaign plane, Harris has kept the media at a distance while enjoying positive coverage as she tries to outpace former President Trump.

Charlamagne tha God speaks onstage during day two of Cry Out 2024 at the George R. Brown Convention Center on June 22, 2024 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images) ((Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images))

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She told reporters in a brief interview in early August that she hoped to schedule an interview by the end of the month.

In an interview with ABC News' Jon Karl that aired on August 11, Charlamagne said Harris “needs to do more interviews.”

“I mean, it’s the bottom of the ninth inning, right?” Charlamagne told Karl, who agreed that it was “striking” that Harris didn’t take many questions from the media. “I feel like she should be everywhere, you know, to have these conversations.”

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In January, Charlamagne said he regretted supporting Biden in 2020 and that Harris had “disappeared” in the administration. However, he has also repeatedly sounded the alarm about the possibility of another Trump term.

Fox News' Brian Flood, David Rutz and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.