By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) -Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz will sit for an interview with CNN on Thursday after weeks of criticism from Republicans and some media that the Democratic presidential candidate has not allowed journalists to press her on issues.
The interview will air at 9 p.m. ET (0100 GMT) on Thursday, CNN said in a statement on Tuesday.
It will be Harris’ first interview since becoming the Democratic candidate after President Joe Biden ended his campaign for re-election on July 21 following a shaky debate performance.
While Harris has occasionally taken questions from journalists on foreign and economic policies on the campaign trail, she has yet to do a one-on-one media interview or hold a formal press conference, prompting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to criticize her.
CNN anchor Dana Bash will conduct the interview from the battleground state of Georgia, CNN said.
Harris laid out some broad policy agendas at the Democratic National Convention last week, promising a middle class tax cut at home and a muscular foreign policy of standing up to Russia and North Korea while backing a Gaza ceasefire and a two-state solution in the Middle East.
She was expected to sit for one-on-one interviews where she will be pressed for details in the final sprint to Election Day on Nov. 5 when she and Trump face off in a tight race.
Trump has held press conferences and done media interviews in recent weeks but they have mostly focused on criticizing the Biden administration’s record instead of detailing his own policy proposals.
Harris was last interviewed in June, when she appeared on CNN to defend Biden’s policy record after the Biden-Trump debate and acknowledged the U.S. president had a “slow start” in that debate.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Rami Ayyub; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Deepa Babington)
