Joe Biden isn’t rushing to do network television interviews, a staple of presidential politics.
Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, gave his latest interview to rapper Cardi B for Elle, which the magazine labeled a “conversation.” The 16-minute video published on Monday focused mainly on racial injustice, which both said has been inflamed by President Trump. Cardi B, at the outset of the conversation, pledged her support for Biden, the former vice president and 36-year Delaware senator.
The Biden campaign has kept the nominee-in-waiting away from adversarial media environments despite the election being less than 80 days away, and he just announced Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice president. They have since given speeches in front of the press, but they have not taken questions during those events.
The first formal interview the ticket will conduct will be with ABC News’s World News Tonight anchor David Muir. The network’s Robin Roberts will also participate in the interview focusing “on the history-making Democratic presidential ticket,” but it will not air until next Sunday, nearly two weeks after Biden selected Harris as his running mate on Aug. 11.
The lack of a media blitz shortly after announcing the ticket is a stark contrast from Trump in recent weeks.
The president, who often blurs the lines between his presidency and his candidacy during White House briefings, has participated in two adversarial interviews in recent weeks. First, he sat down with Fox News’s Chris Wallace and then Axios’s Jonathan Swan, both of who were lavished with praise for confronting the president about statements he previously made.
The president, who regularly calls in to Fox News for softball interviews, has publicly criticized Biden for not following his lead in sitting down with journalists who are more likely to push him. Wallace, who himself has repeatedly sought an interview with the former vice president, questioned the Biden campaign’s strategy of not putting him or other campaign officials in hard-hitting interviews.
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
