By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2024-10-22 04:27:36 | Updated at 2024-10-22 06:30:13
2 hours ago
Former California first lady and journalist Maria Shriver revealed that only “pre-determined questions” were allowed to be asked of Vice President Kamala Harris at a Michigan town hall event on Monday.
“Are we going to be able to ask a question?” a woman attending the Oakland County event asked Shriver ahead of Harris taking the stage with former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, according to the Daily Mail.
Shriver shut her down.
“You’re not, unfortunately, we have some pre-determined questions,” the former “Dateline” correspondent replied.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to ask some of the questions that might be in your head,” Shriver added.
Video of Shriver’s response to the woman quickly went viral on social media, with several users slamming the event as a Harris campaign “production” rather than a genuine town hall – where voters are typically allowed to ask presidential candidates unscripted questions.
“That’s not a town hall. That’s called a stage production,” one X user wrote, arguing that the Democratic nominee for president is “incapable of off the cuff.”
“Some ‘town hall,’” Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume tweeted.
Another X user referred to the event, which was packed with canned lines and talking points, as a “prepped answer show.”
“Basically, it’s a pep rally,” read a different X user’s tweet.
Former Trump White House aide Chad Gilmartin argued that when it comes to Harris, “everything is scripted and nothing will change.”
“HOLY S–T! They’re not even hiding it anymore,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung wrote on X, sharing a clip of Shriver.
Harris, 59, took only three questions from the audience during the hour-long event, during which Shriver praised Cheney as an “’incredible, courageous public servant.”
“Today, I bore witness to what coming together for the good of the country looks like — country over party,” Shriver, the ex-wife of former Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, wrote on X after the event.
Harris held a similar “town hall” event with Cheney in Wisconsin – moderated by anti-Trump commentator Charlie Sykes – after the Michigan forum. It is unclear if the audience questions at that event were also “pre-determined.”
The Harris campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
