CNN panelists have heated argument over Kamala Harris' lack of media engagement

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CNN commentators have heated debate over Kamala Harris avoiding media

CNN's S.E. Cupp and Bakari Sellers have a heated exchange about whether it matters that Vice President Harris has largely avoided the media during her nascent campaign.

CNN commentators sharply argued Thursday over Vice President Kamala Harris' lack of engagement with the media, after former President Trump gave a press conference from Mar-a-Lago and Harris spoke at a campaign rally in Michigan. 

"Don't nobody care but us," CNN commentator and Democratic strategist Bakari Sellers said of criticism about Harris largely avoiding the press in recent weeks. 

"That's not true," fellow panelist S.E. Cupp responded. "I speak to swing state voters all the time. They have questions, they want answers." 

Harris broke her press silence on Thursday, briefly taking reporters' questions for the first time in the nearly three weeks since she became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee. She claimed during her remarkts that she wanted to do an interview by the end of the month.

KAMALA HARRIS HAS AVOIDED INTERVIEWS FOR MORE THAN TWO WEEKS SINCE BECOMING DEM NOMINEE

CNN commentators and political analysts argued over Vice President Harris' level of engagement with the media in a heated panel discussion on Thursday night. (CNN)

"This is so in the Beltway," Sellers said, suggesting it was largely an issue that is discussed within the confines of the Washington, D.C., political environment. 

"You're not the first person to make this argument that she doesn't need to do this, it's very ‘inside the Beltway, this is for us,'" Cupp later told Sellers. "You lose credibility when you do that, because if it were someone else then you would be demanding that she sit down for questions. And you know what, it'll make her a better candidate if she does it." 

"And why shouldn't she? She should answer these questions for the American people," said Tricia McLaughlin, the former communications director for Vivek Ramaswamy's presidential campaign. 

"And she will!" Sellers responded. 

"But why not now?" McLaughlin said. 

KAMALA HARRIS FINALLY FIELDS QUESTIONS FROM PRESS AFTER DODGING MEDIA FOR 18 DAYS SINCE BECOMING DEM NOMINEE

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.  (Getty Images)

Cupp, one of several anti-Trump Republican figures at CNN, also said Harris has experienced a "bit of a honeymoon period" in regard to her media coverage in the days following her nomination by the Democratic Party. 

Harris has made rapid gains in the polls after President Biden announced he was withdrawing from the race. 

According to a Thursday poll from Marquette Law School, Harris expanded her lead among likely voters over Trump by six points, 53 percent to 47 percent.

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The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Fox News' Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.