Hours after the Democratic National Committee released a campaign ad saying Republican candidate Donald Trump is “scared” to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, the former president wrote in a social media post that he wants to participate in a Sept. 4 debate in Pennsylvania on Fox News, with an audience in attendance.
“The FoxNews debate will take place in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at a location in an area to be determined. The debate will be moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum,” Trump wrote in the post to his social networking site Truth Social.
However, on Saturday, Harris’ campaign announced that Trump had already agreed to a debate on September 10.
“Donald Trump is scared and trying to back out of a debate he has already agreed to and is running straight to Fox News to save it,” Harris’ campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in an emailed statement to the Capital-Star. “He needs to stop playing games and show up for the debate he has already committed to on September 10th. The Vice President will be there anyway to take advantage of the opportunity to address a national prime-time audience. We would be happy to discuss future debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to. Mr. Anytime, Where, Anywhere should have no problem doing that unless he is too scared to show up on September 10th.”
Trump and President Joe Biden, who ended his reelection campaign last month, agreed in May to two debates: one on CNN on June 27 and another on ABC News on September 10. Trump had been pushing for the debates for months, saying he would debate Biden “anytime, anywhere, anywhere.” Biden had a shaky performance in the June 27 debate, ultimately leading to his withdrawal from the campaign and Harris’ endorsement.
But during July 23 telephone conversation with reporters in which Trump He said he would be “willing to do more than one debate” with Harris, but was unsure if he wanted to attend the September 10 debate because he “agreed to debate Joe Biden” and not Harris.
Trump claimed the Sept. 10 debate “has ended because Biden will no longer be a participant,” and gave a different reason in a post on his Truth Social platform tardy Friday: He said he was “in a legal dispute” with ABC and host George Stephanopoulos, “thereby creating a conflict of interest.” The lawsuit was filed in March claims that Stephanopoulos defamed Trump by saying during a March 10 segment on his “This Week” show that Trump was found liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll. A jury in May Trump was found responsible for sexually harassing Carroll in 1996, which Trump has denied.
In another article, Trump called the September 4 date “convenient and appropriate because it falls just before the start of early voting for the 2024 presidential election on September 6.” social post Friday.
Last week, Fox News approached both outlets to host the September 17 presidential debate in Pennsylvania. Baier and MacCallum would serve as moderators, but the exact location has not yet been determined.
On Friday, the DNC launched a new ad campaign that will run on the websites of major newspapers in key battleground states where Trump is campaigning. First up is the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which said the former president is “afraid to debate” Harris.
The DNC plans to replicate the ads airing in Atlanta on the websites of other major newspapers in key battleground states on days when Trump is campaigning in those states.
Harris, who won the Democratic presidential nomination Friday after a roll-call vote with delegates, will campaign with her still-unnamed vice presidential candidate in swing states next week, with her first stop being Philadelphia, for a rally at Temple University’s Liacouras Center. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is on Harris’s compact list of vice presidential candidates.
