Harris vows 'ridiculous' headlines won't be a distraction

Vice President Harris said in an interview published on Sunday that she will not be distracted by "ridiculous" headlines about her.

"There is nothing about this job that is supposed to be easy," Harris told the San Francisco Chronicle. "If something is coming to me, it's because it needs to be addressed and because, by definition, it's not going to be easy. If it was easy, it would have been handled before it comes to me."

Harris's comments came after her critics decried her decision to buy an expensive cooking pot while on a trip in France last month.

She also recently received a fair amount of attention after it was reported that she is wary of Bluetooth headphones, viewing them as a security risk.

Harris told the Chronicle that she views these headlines as "ridiculous."

"Oh, how about, 'She's going to buy a pot on her way to the airport,'" said Harris, "After a very significant and highly successful bilateral meeting in France on issues that are about national security, on issues that are about climate, on issues that are about what we are doing in terms of international norms and rules on everything from cyber to space. Come on."

Harris also said that she is aiming to travel across the U.S. more in the next year, though she acknowledged that factors such as the ongoing pandemic and the 50-50 split in the Senate are "very constraining."

"I love people, and there's so much that we are doing that is directly impacting and with the people in mind," she said, adding that after "two years of COVID ... the level of, I think, undiagnosed trauma that people have experienced, the level of anxiety, it's real. And I have always felt that my responsibility as an elected leader is to go to the people, especially when their needs must be addressed and they must know that they are being seen and being heard."