Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris.
Andrew Kelly | Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Vice president Kamala Harris‘ president campaign called out Republic presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday for refusing to agree to the September 10 schedule debate hosted by ABC News, and instead tried to pressure her into accepting a previous Trump-friendly debate. Fox News.
Trump announced on Friday Social truth that he has agreed with Fox News to carry a September 4 debate against Harris, in fact Democracy presidential candidate, with Fox News hosting and the entire audience in attendance.
“Donald Trump is scared and trying to back out of a debate he agreed to and run straight to Fox News to save him,” Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said in a statement Saturday.
Trump said the ongoing lawsuit with ABC News creates a “conflict of interest.” Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“He needs to stop playing games and participate in the debate he has committed to on September 10. One way or another, the Vice President will be there to take advantage of this opportunity to address a national audience in prime time,” Tyler said.
The Trump campaign responded to the statement by accusing Harris’s campaign of cowardice.
“Sounds like @KamalaHarris and @KamalaHQ were too cowardly to accept an earlier debate,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Truong written on Saturday on X.
President Joe Biden and Trump agreed in May two debates under generally accepted terms, one held by CNN on June 27 and another by ABC News on September 10. Although Biden dropped out of the race following his own disastrous debate performance in June, Harris’ campaign has maintained that the terms of the May agreement remain in effect.
Days after Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, Trump said he would be willing to debate the vice president many times. As Harris won the polls and won fundraising recordTrump repeatedly backed away from the original deal in May and floated the idea of skipping the debates altogether.
Harris’ campaign said the vice president would appear at the debate on September 10 regardless of whether Trump attended.
“It’s interesting how ‘anytime, any place’ becomes ‘a specific moment, a specific safe space,’” Harris writes in a X posts on Saturday, doubled. “I’ll be there on September 10, as he agreed. I hope to see him there.”
Tyler added that the campaign would be open to negotiating additional debates after the two men complete their ABC News debate: “Mr. Anytime, Anywhere, Any Place would have no problem with that unless he’s too scared to show up on the 10th.”
