Kamala Harris has come under fire for ‘avoiding eye contact’ and ‘evading questions’ during her latest TV interview, with viewers branding her a ‘liar’ who compares to ‘how suspects look before the inevitable confession’.
Harris was pressed on a series of contentious issues – including her defense of transgender rights, President Joe Biden‘s mental fitness and whether she would grant a pardon to former President Donald Trump – during her Tuesday night sit down with NBC’s Hallie Jackson.
Social media users allege she had ‘shifty eyes’, provided ‘non-committal answers’ and was ‘intentionally evasive’ when asked about her post-election plans, with some even going as far as alleging that ‘her values change with the polls’.
Others suggested that Harris, 60, may have been ‘uncomfortable’ by Jackson’s questions, struggling with a ‘confidence issue’ or even ‘trying to remember what she is supposed to say’.
Body language expert Judi James claims Harris’ behaviors during Tuesday’s conversation are routine, alleging the Vice President has ‘proven herself to be a very avid practitioner of the verbal and non-verbal art of swerving a question’.
Harris appeared ‘shocked’ during the interview, James told DailyMail.com, and would often ‘swerve to a different subject or answer, like a parent distracting a baby from crying by rattling cars keys in front of their face’.
DailyMail.com takes a look at four key moments from the one-on-one interview where the Vice President’s body language appeared to reveal her true feelings…
ON PARDONING TRUMP
This is the moment Kamala Harris was instantly evasive when Hallie Jackson probed her on a potential pardon for former President Donald Trump.
‘Would you consider – if you win and he’s convicted – a pardon for former President Trump?’ Jackson asked the 2024 contender.
Harris replied: ‘I’m not going to get into those hypotheticals. I’m focused on the next 14 days.’
But Jackson continued to press Harris, alleging that there are some who claim a pardon might unify the country and ‘help us move on.’
‘Let me tell you what will help us move on – I get elected president of the United States,’ the Vice President shot back.
Body language expert Judi James analyzed the pair’s interaction, saying that Harris, who was ‘already looking awkward and sitting in a self-diminished pose’ when the line of questioning began, wanted to avoid the question.
James, citing how Harris had her ‘legs crossed, her arms folded in her lap and her lips pursed’, noted how the Vice President offered an initial ‘eye-dart to her right’ after Jackson first spoke.
After what the expert described as a ‘micro-stutter of her eyelids’ and ‘one shoulder shrug’, Harris took the ‘dismissive route’ and raised her hand as if she was ‘swatting’ the topic away.
‘The gestures imply authority and some impatience,’ James said. She also highlighted how Harris uses phrases such as ‘let me tell you’ as so-called ‘verbal re-direction’ tactics.
Harris tried to ‘raise the signals of authority by raising her brows and using a strong stare as she nods her head’, the analyst said, ‘She repeats the words of the question: “Let me tell you what’s going to help us move on…” but swerves to a subject of her choice with an expression that would be hard to disobey.’
Harris was grilled on whether she would consider a pardon for former President Trump
BIDEN’S MENTAL FITNESS
Jackson pressed Harris on her ‘honesty’ with the American public as she campaigned alongside President Joe Biden earlier this year, alleging that the Vice President ‘defended him in the days before and in the days after’ the disastrous June debate.
‘Of course,’ Harris said. ‘Joe Biden is an – extremely accomplished, experienced, and capable in every way that anyone would want if they’re president. Absolutely.’
The anchor further questioned whether Harris witnessed Biden functioning poorly ‘behind closed doors’, to which she replied: ‘It was a bad debate. People have bad debates.’
The question evoked a ‘dramatic eye dart to the right’, which James said ‘can be linked to accessing the creative side of the brain – although this theory is just that and it doesn’t always hold up strongly.’
However, Harris’s body language becomes more ‘self-protective’ when Jackson asks: ‘Can the American people trust you in these moments?’
Jackson pressed Harris on her ‘honesty’ with the American public about Joe Biden’s mental fitness. Harris, pictured with Biden at the Democratic National Convention in August, appeared ‘self-protective’ during this line of questioning
‘I have worked with Joe Biden, whether – hours and hours and hours over these four years, whether it be in the Situation Room or the Oval Office,’ the Vice President replied.
‘I speak with not only sincerity, but with a real firsthand account of watching him do this work. I have no reluctance in saying that. No, of course I don’t.’
The question about her judgment of Biden was actually a ‘question about her own honesty’, James explained.
‘Kamala adopts a pained-looking frown as she replies “of course” to the question of whether she can be trusted.
‘She begins to recite Biden’s good qualities but throws out “you’ll have to ask him” when asked why she is now in the job if he was so great.’
Harris looked ‘self-protective’ as she shot out the combative answer, but she became ‘more confident and relaxed’ once she ‘hops into her re-directional statements’.
POTENTIAL INSURRECTION
Jackson also raised the prospect that Harris may have to deal with some unruly voters after the election, especially since Trump declared that he won the election in 2020 before all the votes were even counted.
‘What is your plan if he does that again in two weeks?’ Jackson asked.
Harris, who according to James looked ‘shocked by the question’, once again attempted to evade answering by claiming to focus on the ‘task at hand.’
‘Well, let me say this, we’ve got two weeks to go, and I’m very much grounded in the present,’ Harris responded.
‘We will deal with election night and the days after, as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that as well.’
Harris was pressed on whether she was ready for a premature declaration of victory from Trump
Trump supporters stormed the Capital on Jan. 6, leaving some to wonder what another loss could bring
When Jackson followed by asking whether she had ‘teams ready to go’ Harris was forced to respond with more specificity.
‘Of course. This is a person, Donald Trump, who tried to undo the, a free and fair election, who still denies the will of the people, who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol and 140 law enforcement officers were attacked. Some who were killed,’ she said.
‘This is a serious matter. The American people are, at this point, two weeks out, being presented with a very, very serious decision about what will be the future of our country.’
James argued that Harris’ demeanor went from initially looking shocked, issuing a ‘frowning “of course!” and a “This is a serious matter”,’ to using her hands to form a ‘wings shape in the air’ so she could ‘re-direct to her campaign mantras’.
‘She mimes the two paths the country could go down, using a gesture that implies what looks like a 50/50 split,’ the body language expert explained.
‘Harris starts in a more direct mode when asked about the election itself but then slowly swerves away to serve up her well-worn, pre-loved lines like ‘turn the page’ that she has used to effect on her campaign trail.’
She added that it appears Harris has fallen into her ‘zone of body language comfort’ when she issues these ‘familiar’ messages, noting her use of ‘precision pinch rituals and strong eye contact’.
GENDER AFFIRMING CARE
Harris performed three swerves when Jackson questioned her about gender affirming care for trans Americans, the body language expert claims.
When asked whether Americans should have access to gender-affirming care – an issue Trump has criticized her for supporting on the campaign trail – the vice president refused to answer.
‘I think we should follow the law,’ Harris said before complaining that ‘Donald Trump’s campaign has spent tens of millions of dollars…’
James noted how Harris initially responded with an ‘eyelid stutter’, suggesting there was ‘some awkwardness’, before darting her eyes to the right again. She is also seen gesturing while her arms are still crossed which echoes the ‘idea of discomfort’.
Harris, once again, uses a ‘re-directional statement’ in her reply to Jackson, James claimed. When asked the same question again, she used another re-directional statement in an attempt to shift focus ‘away from herself and her own views and towards Trump’.
But Jackson refused to back down, telling Harris: ‘They’re trying to define you on this, I’m asking you to define yourself, though, just broadly speaking, what is your value? Do you believe they should have that access?’
An activist holds a sign painted in the Trans Flag colors in support of gender affirming care during the Queer Liberation March in New York City last year
Harris stuck to the script by responding that ‘on this issue’ federal law states doctors are allowed to make a decision based on what is ‘medically necessary.’
‘I’m not going to put myself in a position of a doctor,’ she said.
Jackson then pressed her a third time, determined to get a clear response on the issue.
‘I believe that all people should be treated with dignity and respect, period, and should not be vilified for who they are, and should not be bullied for who they are,’ Harris declared. ‘And that is a true statement for me my entire career. And that has not changed.’
The exchange concluded with Harris parting her arm in a way that demonstrated ’emphatic confidence’, James explained, citing how the Vice President used ‘measuring and invisible brick gestures’ as she spoke.
‘Pulled back again she throws out an “Let’s not get distracted…” to veer away from the question one more time and then a “People want to know…” as a final and very cliched re-directional phrase,’ James said.
Harris then took the ‘conversation onto affordable housing, getting into her stride visually as she chomps into her word salad verbally’.
