Joe Rogans Trump episode was a traumatic event for Kamala Harris and new book excerpt reveals how VPs proposed interview fell apart
An excerpt from a new book about the 2024 presidential election shed new light on how former Vice President Kamala Harris’ proposed interview with podcast giant Joe Rogan fell apart.“Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House,” from authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, provided a play-by-play of negotiations between the Rogan and Harris camps to secure Harris’ appearance on the podcast.The dialogue proved fruitless and cost the ex-vice president’s campaign, especially as then-candidate Donald Trump secured a Rogan interview that went viral.“Trump spent three hours with Rogan in an interview that instantly went viral.
The contrast amounted to a ‘traumatic event,’ said one Harris aide, ‘that I will never forget,’” Allen and Parnes wrote.Rogan confirmed in late October — just after publishing his sit-down with Trump — that he had been in negotiations with the Harris team for an interview, noting that talks had come to stand still because of Harris’ demands.At the time, he expressed that he was still open to a future interview, and relayed that the Harris camp hadn’t canceled either.Following Trump’s election victory, Harris’ team suggested that the president’s interview was the factor that killed negotiations.“We were hoping to fit it in around that but ultimately weren’t able to do it,” Harris campaign senior advisor Stephanie Cutter said on “Pod Save America.” “As it turns out, that was the day that Trump was taping his Joe Rogan [appearance], which they had never confirmed to us.
We just kind of figured that out in the lead-up to it.”Rogan went on to endorse then-candidate Trump on the eve of the election. The section from “Fight” shed more light on what happened, alleging that initial negotiations held between Harris deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty and Rogan’s reps were rocky.According to the book, Rogan sent them his list of interview conditions on Oct.
11, which included “no staff in ...