Vice President Kamala Harris looked to keep it moving when asked about Donald Trump’s “happened to turn Black” attack in what New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman referred to as the former president’s “baited” move on Thursday.
Harris — in her first interview alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz since entering the 2024 race — was asked about Trump’s comments by CNN’s Dana Bash.
The vice president called it the “same old tired playbook” from the GOP nominee.
“Next question, please,” Harris told the CNN host.
“That’s it?” Bash asked.
“That’s it,” Harris replied.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper said the response showed Harris was “clearly” ready for the question, choosing to just “brush it aside” and not “go down that rabbit hole.”
Haberman told Cooper that the Harris campaign has made a “very concerted effort” not to be “baited.”
“And Trump has been trying very hard to bait her and to bait her supporters on issues related to race, on issues related to gender and her campaign and the vice president are not interested in doing that,” said Haberman, who also serves as a political analyst for CNN.
She continued, “Now, I don’t know whether they will decide strategically to say more or engage more at some point. The debate might be a place where they do that. It might not be a place where they do that.”
Haberman then pointed to Harris’ “very successful” convention and speech, which “really didn’t get into” the historic nature of her candidacy.
“Other people talked about that in their speeches, she did not, and, you know, I think there’s a variety of reasons why,” she said, “but that was a very intentional answer that I think you will hear a lot of.”
