Trump says he will either face Harris on Fox News or not at all

Former President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he would not engage in a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris unless she agrees to participate in a Fox News debate next month. This announcement adds to the ongoing public discussions between their campaigns about when, if ever, they will share a debate stage.

 

“I’ll meet her on September 4th, or not at all,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

 

Trump reiterated this stance during a rally in Georgia on Saturday evening, telling the crowd, “We’re holding one with Fox, if she attends.”

“I doubt she’ll show up,” he added, claiming that while the vice president can read from a teleprompter, she struggles to speak without one.

This declaration followed Trump’s decision to withdraw from a scheduled September 10 debate hosted by ABC News, a commitment he made in May after he and President Joe Biden agreed to accelerate the debate schedule. Harris referenced this on social media, pointing out the shift in Trump’s position.

“It’s curious how ‘any time, any place’ turns into ‘one specific time, one specific safe space,’” she wrote. “I’ll be there on September 10th, as agreed. I hope to see him there.”

A source informed CNN that ABC News would likely provide airtime to any candidate who shows up, even if that’s only Harris. ABC News did not comment.

Trump’s insistence on a debate under his terms, with a large audience, continues the back-and-forth between the campaigns as they each try to control the narrative surrounding a possible debate, exchanging jabs in the process. Trump has questioned Harris’s intelligence, claiming she doesn’t have the “mental capacity” to debate him.

Harris’s campaign argues that Trump is afraid to face her in a debate.

 

Last month, Biden ended his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris following pressure from Democrats after his poor performance in a June 27 CNN debate. Trump has alleged, without evidence, that Democrats orchestrated a “coup” to remove Biden from the ticket.

These public exchanges have cast doubt on whether a debate will happen at all. Trump secured the Republican nomination earlier this year without participating in any primary debates, arguing that his established reputation and strong polling numbers made his presence unnecessary. He has made similar comments recently about debating Harris.

On Friday night, Trump stated that the ABC News debate couldn’t proceed because Biden is no longer the nominee and also because Trump is currently suing the network.

Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos in March after Stephanopoulos claimed in an interview that Trump had been found guilty of “rape.” While Trump has been held liable for sexual assault and defamation in the E. Jean Carroll case, the lawsuit against ABC was filed before the debate agreements were made.

The push for a Fox News debate is the latest change from the Trump campaign since Biden stepped aside nearly two weeks ago.

On July 23, Trump told reporters that he hadn’t agreed to debate Harris, only Biden.

“But I want to debate her, and it won’t make much difference, as they share the same policies,” he said. “Debating is important in a presidential race, I really believe it’s a candidate’s obligation.”

Two days later, a spokesperson for Trump’s campaign stated that they would not commit to any future debates until the Democratic Party officially announced its nominee, suggesting the party might still change its decision. By this time, Harris had secured a majority of delegate support, and no other prominent Democrats had announced plans to challenge her.

On Friday, the Democratic National Committee confirmed that Harris had gained enough backing to secure the party’s nomination, following a day of virtual delegate voting to officially nominate a candidate.

On Monday, Trump mentioned to Fox News host Laura Ingraham that he would “probably end up debating” Harris, but also hinted that he might not need to participate since both candidates are already well known.

Then,n Friday morning, just hours before withdrawing from the ABC News debate, Trump told Fox Business that he was uncertain about debating Harris.

“I mean, at this point, why should I debate?” he said. “I’m leading in the polls, and everyone knows her. Everyone knows me.”

Last year, Trump used similar reasoning to justify skipping the GOP primary debates, stating on his social media platform that the public “knows who I am.”

In response, Harris and her campaign have issued challenges, urging Trump to attend the debate he initially agreed to with Biden.

“He refuses to debate, but he and his running mate have plenty to say about me,” Harris told a crowd in Atlanta earlier this week. “Well, Donald, I really hope you reconsider and meet me on the debate stage, because as the saying goes, ‘If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.’”

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