Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
Andrew Kelly | Evelyn Hochstein | Reuters
Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Saturday of not agreeing to a debate scheduled for September 10 hosted by ABC News and instead pressuring her to hold the debate earlier on Trump-friendly Fox News.
President Trump announced Friday via Truth Social that he has reached an agreement with Fox News to hold a debate with Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, on September 4 in front of Fox News hosts and the full audience.
“Donald Trump is scared, has already agreed to a debate, and is trying to save himself by running straight to Fox News,” Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said in a statement Saturday.
Trump said the ongoing lawsuit with ABC News poses a “conflict of interest.” Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“He needs to stop playing games and show up for the debate he’s already promised on September 10th. The vice president will be there in some way. He’ll have the opportunity to address a major audience across the country,” Tyler said.
The Trump campaign responded to this statement by calling the Harris campaign cowardly.
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Tseng wrote on X on Saturday, “@KamalaHarris and @KamalaHQ appear to be too scared to commit to a faster debate.”
President Joe Biden and Trump agreed to two debates in May under mutually agreed terms, one hosted by CNN on June 27 and the second hosted by ABC News on September 10. Biden dropped out of the race in June after his disastrous debate performance, but Harris’s campaign insists the terms of the May agreement still stand.
Days after Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, Trump said he would be willing to debate the vice president multiple times. While Harris has been leading in the polls and raising record amounts of money, Trump has repeatedly backed away from the initial deal he made in May and has hinted that he might skip the debate altogether.
The Harris campaign said the vice president will appear at the September 10 debate whether Trump attends or not.
Harris doubled down on the X post on Saturday, writing, “It’s interesting how ‘anytime, any place’ becomes ‘a certain time, a certain safe space.’” “I’ll be there on September 10th, as he agreed. I want to see him there.”
Tyler added that the campaign would be open to negotiating additional debates after the two men finished their ABC News debate. “Mr., I don’t think there’s any problem with that, unless he’s too scared to show up on the 10th, when, where, and when.”
