Before Kamala Harrisis the first sit-down interview ever with Fox News, campaign spokesperson Ian Sams told Vanity Fair that their appearance on the network was an “important piece of the puzzle” in the broader strategy of the final phase of the campaign.

Sams has joined the host Brian Stelter To Vanity Fair'S In the beehive Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation in which Sams said that the interview was on Fox News with host Bret Baier “Serves dual purposes” for the Harris Walz campaign. Firstly, it is the exposure that the network can offer given its consistently high ratings. Second, he argued, “there are a lot of undecided voters watching the network,” including some Democrats and independent voters.

The Fox News audience “quite often gets tired of a lot of crap,” Sams continued, adding that the sessions allow viewers to “hear directly from her.”

Sams told Stelter, who is also CNN's chief media analyst, that the Harris campaign has no illusions about Fox's political direction; There is, he said, “a completely alternative reality that is being created every day by Fox News” and other conservative media outlets. Still, the campaign still believes that getting Harris' message across to audiences could still have an impact three weeks before Election Day. To this end, vice presidential candidate Tim Waltz was published on Fox News Sunday two weeks in a row.

Wednesday's meeting “says something about the two candidates,” Sams said. “It says she’s tough, she’s strong, she can take on hostile people. Donald Trumpis weak and withdrawn, retreating into his comfort zone.”

In recent weeks, the campaign has deliberately sought to draw comparisons between Harris and Trump's media appearances. Earlier this week, Sams stressed in a series of social media posts that the former president was unwilling to participate in an interview with mainstream media so close to the election, citing Trump's recent decision to withdraw from an already scheduled one CBS News interview to get out 60 minutes Interview.

“And that’s why it’s important to sit down with Fox on this,” Sams said.

The full episode of Inside the Hive, in which Sams and Stelter discuss Harris' full media strategy and approach to undecided voters, will be available on October 17 at 9 a.m. EST wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.