Harris routinely flew to campaign rallies on Air Force 2 and spent millions on private jet travel
Former vice president Kamala Harris has a new excuse for why she never appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience: Traveling from a campaign rally in Houston to Rogan’s studio in Austin, a trip that takes less than an hour by plane, “wasn’t feasible.”
Harris recounts her side of the Rogan story in a section of her new book on the 2024 campaign, 107 Days. She writes that she “really wanted to do” an interview with the celebrity podcaster even as campaign aides “argued it was a bad idea.” When Rogan’s team asked Harris to come to Austin for the interview, however, Harris was uncertain about “spending time in Texas so close to the election, when every minute in a swing state mattered.” Then she traveled to Houston, which is also in Texas, for a “big rally on reproductive rights” in late October, and Rogan offered to host her the morning after the event.
“They said they could do it at 8:30 a.m., not later, as Joe had ‘commitments,'” Harris writes. “I had commitments as well, and it wasn’t feasible to get from Houston to Austin by 8:30 a.m.”
That trek takes roughly one hour by plane for those flying commercial. Harris was not—she flew to the Houston rally on Air Force 2, according to video footage of her arrival. Her campaign, meanwhile, spent $2.6 million on private flights for campaign staffers the month of the rally, campaign finance disclosures show.
Harris’s claims contradict Rogan’s account of the saga. “She had an opportunity to come here when she was in Texas. I literally gave them an open invitation,” Rogan said. “I said, ‘Any time, if she’s done at 10 o’clock, I’ll come back here at 10 o’clock.’ I go ‘I’ll do it at nine in the morning, I’ll do it at 10 p.m., I’ll do it at midnight.'”
