CNN anchor Dana Bash addressed an assertion made by the network’s chief national affairs correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, on Monday, who claimed that former President Donald Trump has exclusively engaged in “friendly interviews” since September 2023.
In response to concerns within her party regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’s limited media presence, she is set to embark on a series of media engagements featuring friendly interviews. During the segment of “Inside Politics with Dana Bash,” Zeleny remarked on the perceived hypocrisy of Republicans criticizing Harris for participating in “softball interviews,” given Trump’s similar interview strategy. However, Bash pointed out that the former president had encountered a difficult interview with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in July.
“The criticism from the right about, ‘Oh, these are all softball things,’ my recollection is the last difficult interview that former President Trump has done was on ‘Meet the Press’ with Kristen Welker [in September 2023] … I mean, it has been a series of friendly interviews on Fox and other places,” Zeleny said. “He declined ’60 Minutes.’”
“Well, he did NABJ,” Bash responded.
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