New Jersey governor says Harris will have ‘plenty of time’ for interviews

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) hit back at those criticizing Vice President Harris for not taking interviews, saying that she’ll have “plenty of time” for them in the future.

Murphy was asked on CNN News Central on Tuesday whether it was becoming a “problem” that Harris has not done any interview yet. CNN’s Kate Bolduan noted that former President Trump had an interview with tech billionaire Elon Musk on social media platform X on Monday.

Murphy said it is not a problem for Harris and jabbed the interview between Trump and Musk.

“You won’t be surprised to hear, I had no time for the Musk-Trump interview. So, I can’t comment on any content. But, no, not at all. I think she’s had an extraordinary several weeks. Tim Walz is an inspired pick. She’s on a roll. She is—as he has said, she’s brought joy back into the whole arena of politics,” Murphy said on Tuesday.

“There’ll be plenty of time to do interviews. And God knows one thing about last night, without having heard it, that was no interview. So, when she does interviews, she’ll do it with real journalists like yourself,” he added.

Harris has taken heat from the Trump campaign for not taking questions from reporters in the early weeks of her campaign. She said last week that she hoped to sit down for a full interview by the end of August.

Trump spoke with Musk on social media platform X, which Musk owns, on Monday night for roughly two hours after their conversation was delayed by technical difficulties. They discussed a wide range of topics on the livestream, including the attempted assassination on Trump and his views on immigration and the economy.

Musk has endorsed Trump in the 2024 race.

Murphy was the chair of the Democratic Governors Association before Walz succeeded him last year. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) is now the chair of the organization after Walz resigned from his post last week.

Murphy praised Harris for selecting Walz as her running mate on CNN.

“First of all, he’s a great guy. What an inspired pick. He’s a great governor. He’s done an extraordinary job in Minnesota. He succeeded me as the chair of the Democratic Governors Association. He’s led that organization with distinction,” he said.