NBC's Chuck Todd knocks Kamala Harris' 'mistake' of avoiding press: 'Any fumble' will be 'overly scrutinized'

NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for what he called a “mistake” in avoiding interviews for weeks into her presidential campaign.

It was announced on Tuesday that Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will participate in a joint interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, scheduled to be taped Thursday afternoon and broadcast in primetime.

On Wednesday, Todd wrote on NBC News' website that the Harris campaign’s “first big mistake” was making her initial interview seem more critical by remaining out of the spotlight for nearly 40 days.

“I think the easiest way to handle this is to do a variety of interviews—local, podcasts, friendly and unfriendly places,” Todd later said on NBC News Now. “When you try to focus exclusively on one big event, it often becomes the focal point. If there are six interviews, the saturation can be overwhelming… Everything gets diluted.”

Todd suggested that this approach only reinforces negative stereotypes about Harris, such as being overly cautious or slow to act. He noted, “There’s a fine line between being deliberative and being paralyzed by decision-making. The way they’ve handled this media strategy—I get it, it may not be as critical as we think, but the handling of it has been a mistake.”

Reflecting on former President Trump’s media strategy in 2016, Todd recommended that Harris take a similar approach.

“There’s a reluctance to emulate anything Trump did, but the 2016 Trump—unlike this version who avoids mainstream media—did interviews everywhere: friendly and adversarial, sometimes several in a day. He preferred this over campaigning on the trail,” Todd said. “This strategy effectively made no single interview seem overly significant. The way Harris’s team has managed this situation is playing into her perceived weaknesses. Any misstep now will face excessive scrutiny in this interview, perhaps unnecessarily so.”

It has been over a month since Harris became the Democratic nominee after President Biden's surprising exit from the 2024 race. The Vice President has faced mounting criticism for her lack of interviews and press conferences, with scrutiny intensifying following last week’s Democratic National Convention.

Harris is expected to address several issues, including recent policy shifts on fracking, border security, and private health insurance—positions she previously took as a progressive candidate in 2019. She may also be questioned about her knowledge of Biden’s mental decline, despite her public defense of him after a problematic debate performance.

Walz is also likely to face questions regarding controversies surrounding his military service record and his progressive policies as Minnesota’s governor.