Kamala Harris sat down on Thursday for her first televised interview since President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and the Democratic Party rallied around the vice president as its pick to take on Donald Trump.

CNN’s Dana Bash interviewed both Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, as the duo campaigned in Georgia. During the sit-down, Harris said that she would appoint a Republican to her Cabinet if elected, emphasizing that hearing from different viewpoints while in office would benefit the American people.

“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences,” she said in an early excerpt of the interview set to air Thursday evening. “And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my Cabinet who was a Republican.”

The discussion took place amid growing pressure for Harris to speak face-to-face with the media, something she had avoided in the early weeks of her campaign. Harris’ delay in conducting a candidate interview has become attack fodder for Republicans accusing the vice president of being unable to answer critical questions about her campaign. 

Although the practice of conducting an interview with both a candidate and their running mate is not uncommon, Harris has yet to participate in a one-on-one solo interview.

Trump — whose interviews typically take place on Fox News or other right-wing propaganda outlets — pushed Bash to grill Harris and Walz earlier on Thursday.

“Dana Bash of CNN has a chance at greatness today,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “If she gave a fair but tough interview of Comrade Kamala Harris, she will expose her as being totally inept and ill suited for the job of President, much as I exposed Crooked Joe Biden during our now famous Debate. How cool would that be for Dana and CNN???”

In less than two weeks, Harris will meet Trump on the debate stage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On Thursday, ABC News, which will host the debate, confirmed that the rules for the encounter will be the same as those negotiated for Trump’s first debate against President Joe Biden. 

The dispute over debate rules came to a head earlier this week amid reports that the two campaigns disagreed over whether or not the candidate’s microphones would be muted while the other was speaking, a standard set in Biden’s disastrous debate against Trump.

“Both candidates have publicly made clear their willingness to debate with unmuted mics for the duration of the debate to fully allow for substantive exchanges between the candidates — but it appears Donald Trump is letting his handlers overrule him. Sad,” a Harris campaign official told Politico on Thursday.

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Bash asked Harris on Thursday about Trump’s attacks against her, including his absurd claim that she “just happened to turn Black.”

“Same old, tired playbook,” Harris said. “Next question, please.”