Kristi Noem to Newsmax: 'Insulting' That Harris Needs Walz for Interview

Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem told Newsmax on Wednesday the optics are terrible regarding Vice President Kamala Harris' first major media interview since becoming the Democrat presidential nominee, given Harris is doing it with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Harris and Walz will sit down with CNN's Dana Bash in Georgia for an interview that will air at 9 p.m. (ET) Thursday. CNN reportedly will tape the joint appearance that afternoon.

"Looking at this from a woman's perspective, it's just so disappointing," Noem told "Prime News" and guest host Todd Starnes. "There are all kinds of women who take on tough challenges in their day-to-day lives. They're balancing budgets. They're running businesses, raising their families.

"They've done difficult things. And then we have a woman who wants to be the leader of the free world, and she can't get through an interview without being propped up by a man.

"I mean, it's insulting. It really is."

Harris has been criticized for not granting access to the media for an interview, or even holding a news conference, since replacing President Joe Biden atop the Democrat ticket on July 21, when Biden decided not to seek reelection. Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, have frequently talked with the media since Biden's withdrawal from the race.

"I hope that everybody recognizes that Tim is there to help prop her up," said Noem, once considered as a possible running mate for Trump on the GOP ticket. "And if it gets awkward or she starts giggling or looking, you know, crazy that he's going to interrupt and take over and then they're going to go back and stop the tape and maybe re-tape that question to make sure that she looks fantastic.

"This has been something that they have been planning ever since, well, probably for months. And they know what their game is. I just hope the American people are strong enough and verbal enough and vote enough to call them out on it."

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