Former President Donald Trump’s views on his willingness to debate presidential candidate Kamala Harris are changing like the wind.
After Harris announced she was seeking the Democratic nomination, Trump expressed hesitation about the debate on Truth Social, saying he didn’t know who he would be debating and that the debates should be hosted by the right-wing network Fox News. On Tuesday, he softened his stance, saying he would like to debate Harris several times without committing to dates.
However, in a fresh series of messages from Trump and a campaign spokesman, the former president once again declined to commit to appearing at the debate originally scheduled for September 10 between Trump and President Joe Biden.
The former president and his office say their lack of commitment is based on the fact that they don’t yet know whether Harris will definitely be the Democratic nominee. As of press time, a majority of Democratic delegates — nearly 4,000 — involved to endorse Harris. She would need 1,976 delegates on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention next month to secure the nomination. Delegates are expected to vote virtually to endorse Harris as the party’s nominee as early as Aug. 7, CNN reports.
Harris on Thursday night accused Trump of “withdrawing” from the debate. “What happened to ‘anytime, anywhere?’” she tweeted.
“I agreed to a prearranged debate on September 10, he agreed to a prearranged debate,” Harris told reporters Thursday after landing at Joint Base Andrews. “Now it looks like he’s backing off. But I’m ready. And I think voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage, so I’m ready. Let’s get started.”
After Trump’s endorsement of the Fox News debate, the broadcaster proposed for both campaigns, the debate will be on September 17. It is unclear whether anything will happen there.