Former President Donald Trump said late on Friday that he agreed to a debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, who hours earlier had secured enough delegate votes to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, but they did not seem to agree on a host.
The latest clash between candidates began with a post to Truth Social.
Trump said he would be willing to go head-to-head with Harris on Fox News while indicating he would no longer participate in the ABC News debate on September 10 because he agreed to face-off against President Joe Biden, not Harris, and separately filed in March a defamation lawsuit against the network and its anchor George Stephanopoulos – who was not slated to be a moderator.
“I have agreed with FoxNews to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th. The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, thereby creating a conflict of interest,” Trump said.
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“The FoxNews Debate will be held in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at a site in an area to be determined,” he added. “The Moderators of the Debate will be Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, and the Rules will be similar to the Rules of my Debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his Party – BUT WITH A FULL ARENA AUDIENCE!….”
In May, Trump and Biden had both agreed to the ABC debate in September. Trump also said he accepted a Fox News debate against Biden scheduled for October, though Biden’s campaign signaled that the president was not willing to do a third event. Harris accepted three possible dates to debate Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), when she was part of Biden’s ticket.
However, Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 weeks after a fumbling performance in a CNN debate against Trump without an audience led to a revolt within the Democratic Party. Biden then quickly endorsed Harris to be his successor.
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What followed was a war of words in which Trump noted that he did not agree to debate Harris, only Biden. Harris said Trump appeared to be “backpedaling” and insisted that she was “ready” to face him on the debate stage. Trump’s campaign then said finalizing a debate with Harris “would be inappropriate … because Democrats very well could still change their minds.” But Harris never faced a challenger and clinched the Democratic Party’s nomination on Friday.
In statements on Saturday, Harris and her campaign taunted Trump while alluding to a Truth Social post from March — when Biden was still running a campaign — in which Trump said he was calling for debates “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!” They claimed Trump was “running scared” — though without acknowledging that the race had fundamentally changed following Biden’s exit and Harris’ takeover, said Harris would appear at the ABC debate to speak whether Trump shows up or not, and voiced an openness to discuss future debates afterwards.
Trump shot back in another post to Truth Social.
“Kamala Harris doesn’t have the mental capacity to do a REAL Debate against me, scheduled for September 4th in Pennsylvania,” Trump said. “She’s afraid to do it because there is no way she can justify her Corrupt and Open Borders, the Environmental Destruction of our Country, the Afghanistan Embarrassment, Runaway Inflation, Terrible Economy, High Interest Rates and Taxes, and her years long fight to stop the words, ‘Merry Christmas.'”
He continued, “I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all. She is acknowledged to be the Worst Vice President in History, which works very nicely against the Worst President, Crooked Joe Biden. The combination of these two Low IQ individuals have destroyed our Country, but we will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The Daily Wire reached out to ABC News and Fox News seeking comment.
