CNN commentator Scott Jennings referred to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as Vice President Kamala Harris’s “emotional support animal” Tuesday after the network announced Walz would join her for her first interview as a presidential candidate.
Jennings mocked the fact that Harris seemed to lack the confidence to face CNN political journalist Dana Bash on her own, after avoiding the media for more than five weeks after entering the 2024 race when President Joe Biden quit.
Jennings had the following exchange in an on-air segment with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper:
COOPER: … Scott, it’s the first time the vice president going to be sitting down for an interview. She’s doing it with her vice-presidential candidate, Tim Walz. Do you think that blunts attacks from Republicans or is the line now going to be, well, why isn’t she doing it by yourself?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I do think people are going to bring that up.
Look, I have great confidence and Dana and CNN to do this. I think it’s incredibly weak, weak sauce to show up with your running mate. The fact that they don’t have enough confidence in her to let her sit herself the actual top of the ticket and do a single interview.
In fact, I think the handwringing and the gyrations over this over the last month show troubling lack of confidence in her political ability, which also makes you wonder as a voter, well, what kind of president would you be if this kind of a small time decision can we do an interview or not — what does that look like for your decision-making process and so on?
So yes, I think Republicans are going to think it’s pretty weak to show up with effectively someone to take up half the time.
Jennings later took to social media to mock Walz as Harris’s “emotional support animal” for the CNN interview:
Weak sauce for Kamala Harris to demand an emotional support animal for her first interview. Shows an extreme lack of confidence for Thursday night event on @cnn pic.twitter.com/ZrjGF2nNLz
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) August 28, 2024
Jennings also made the comment on air on another segment.
Harris has yet to hold a press conference. Former President Donald Trump faces press conferences frequently — often with hostile questions from a media that is biased against him.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
