CNN’s Dana Bash acknowledged Vice President Kamala Harris was dodging questions during her interview with the Democratic presidential candidate last month.
Bash spoke to Mediaite editor-in-chief Aidan McLaughlin on Saturday when McLaughlin asked Bash about the interview, specifically Harris appearing to avoid discussing her position on fracking.
Although Bash believed Harris’ stance was “clear,” she remarked that Harris was unclear about how and why she had changed her position since 2019, despite being asked multiple times.
“I tried. I mean, you can’t force somebody to answer a question, and I asked to follow up. I tried to get more into the nitty-gritty and get the answer. Sometimes, in my experience in doing interviews, is that once you ask once, fine. Twice, fine. Three times, if you don’t get a clear answer, that’s kind of your answer,” Bash responded.
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She further explained that although fracking is a bigger issue in Pennsylvania compared to other states, Harris’ changing position on it could affect potential voters.
“That’s why I wanted to ask the broader question, which is, if you’ve changed your position on X, Y and Z, how can you assure voters that those positions won’t change again once they elect you?” Bash said. “A lot of liberals are like, ‘Oh, you’re asking Republican talking points,’ but that’s like a fundamental question, that if I’m a swing voter, I want to know the answer to. If I’m not sure if I’m going to vote for Trump or Harris or not vote at all, that’s something that will inform my vote.”
Bash gave Harris her first official interview since becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in July. During the interview, Harris insisted she had already made it clear she would not ban fracking as president.
“In 2020, I made very clear where I stand. We are in 2024, and I’ve not changed that position, although I’ve gone forward. I kept my word, and I will keep my word,” Harris said.
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“Let’s be clear. My values have not changed. I believe it is very important that we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate. And to do that, we can do what we have accomplished thus far. The Inflation Reduction Act — what we have done to invest, by my calculation, over… a trillion dollars over the next 10 years, investing in a clean energy economy. What we’ve already done: creating over 300,000 new clean energy jobs,” she continued.
However, during a CNN town hall in 2019, Harris remarked that “there’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
