Kamala Harris mocked for asking Tim Walz to ‘babysit’ interview

Democratic nominee will appear on CNN with her running mate which critics suggest indicates a lack of confidence

Kamala Harris has been mocked for getting Tim Walz to join her as a “babysitter” in her first major interview since announcing her run for the US presidency.
The Democratic nominee will sit down with CNN on Thursday in what is being seen as a key test of her credibility and a moment for her to appeal to undecided voters.
Ms Harris has so far been criticised by Donald Trump’s campaign for not agreeing to a major interview or staging a formal press conference since she began her candidacy.
Trump, in contrast, has made a point of holding the press at his Bedminster and Mar-a-Lago estates throughout the campaign and accused his rival of avoiding interviews because “she can’t do better than [Joe] Biden”.
However, the decision to be accompanied on CNN by Mr Walz has sparked disapproval from several Republicans and conservative commentators, who say Ms Harris is trying to dodge the scrutiny of a solo interview and use the Minnesota governor as a “security blanket”.
“I think it’s incredibly weak, weak sauce, to show up with your running mate,” said Scott Jennings, a former special assistant to George W Bush. He added that Ms Harris had a “troubling lack of confidence” in her political ability.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, governor of Arkansas, told Fox & Friends on Wednesday: “It’s clear that her own team and her own party think she needs a babysitter.”
Ms Sanders continued: “This isn’t even a tough interview. This is on CNN.”
But supporters of Ms Harris have claimed she is just doing things at the right pace given the unprecedented nature of her ascendency to the top of the ticket.
A senior Harris campaign official told Politico, “obviously she will do solo interviews too” over the course of the campaign.
It is also not unusual for joint interviews featuring both members of the presidential ticket and the Harris-Walz campaign sought to prove that by providing a long list of each one conducted since 2004.
The highly anticipated CNN interview will be followed by Trump and Ms Harris’s first head-to-head debate on ABC News in a few weeks.
After uncertainty as to whether Trump would be taking part, he clarified on Tuesday that “an agreement”, presumably with Ms Harris’s team, had been reached.