In the two weeks-plus since Vice President Kamala Harris ascended to the role of presumptive Democratic nominee in place of President Joe Biden, she has yet to sit for a media interview, hold a news conference, or even answer basic questions from the reporters in her press pool.

In a Thursday news conference of his own, former President Donald Trump said the reason Harris has refused to interact with the media is because "she can’t do a news conference" because she is "not smart" and is only in her current position for "politically correct" reasons, the New York Post reported.

That critique quite possibly compelled Harris to, for the first time since Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed her as his replacement, took a brief moment to speak with her press pool later that same day -- though the questions asked and answers provided were of little importance.

Harris "not smart enough" to do interviews and news conferences

During his hour-long press conference on Thursday, former President Trump said at one point of VP Harris, "She’s not doing a news conference. You know why? She’s not doing it because she can’t do a news conference."

"She won’t even do interviews with friendly people, because she can’t do better than Biden," he continued and contrasted that with his willingness to do interviews with overtly hostile media outlets and reporters.

"She’s not smart enough to do a news conference, and I’m sorry -- we need smart people to lead this country because our country has never been in this danger before, both economically and from an outside perspective," Trump asserted.

"She hasn’t done an interview. She can’t do an interview," he added. "But I look forward to the debates."

Harris finally speaks with reporters

Later in the evening on Thursday, as VP Harris was leaving a campaign event in Detroit, Michigan, she briefly stopped and spoke with reporters who had gathered near Air Force Two on the airport tarmac.

Harris largely dodged questions about Trump's criticisms, signaled that she was willing to discuss debating the GOP nominee, and defended her chosen running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, from critiques about his military service.

At the end of the momentary discussion with reporters, Harris was asked about her lack of a sit-down media interview since becoming the presumptive nominee, and replied, "I’ve talked to my team. I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month."

Interestingly enough, that limited interaction with the media came just one day after Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), trolled Harris by talking to that same press pool gathered near Air Force Two at an airport in Wisconsin and humorously criticized her for her lack of transparency and refusal to talk with journalists.

Trump appears to defend Biden following ouster

At another point in former President Trump's press conference, he appeared to defend his 2020 rival, President Biden, over how his candidacy for re-election was ended and called VP Harris a "nasty" person for having accused Biden during the 2020 primary of being "racist," according to the Post.

"She was the first loser in the primary system … She was the first one to quit. And she quit -- she had no votes, no support, and she was a bad debater," Trump recalled of the Democratic primary four years earlier. "She never made it to Iowa. Then, for some reason, and I know he regrets it -- you do too -- he picked her and she turned on him, too."

"The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden, and I’m no Biden fan, but I tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you look at, they took the presidency away, and people were saying he lost after the debate, he couldn’t win," he added. "Well, I don’t know that that’s true, necessarily, but whether he could win or he couldn’t win, he had the right to run. And they took it away … They said, 'We’ll do it the nice way or we’ll do it the hard way.'"