By Alicia Diaz
Former President Donald Trump said he’ll debate Vice President Kamala Harris at his preferred time and place or “I won’t see her at all,” leaving plans for a face-off between the two candidates at an impasse.
Trump doubled down in a social media post Saturday on his call for a debate on Sept 4, which he has said would be hosted by Fox News. Harris’ campaign dismissed the plan, saying a Sept 10 debate on ABC, originally due to feature Trump and President Joe Biden, remains on the books.
The fate of the ABC debate is unclear. The network hasn’t announced whether it will proceed, while the Harris campaign’s belief is that ABC will go ahead if any of the qualified candidates attend.
The former president and 2024 Republican nominee began the latest round of verbal volleying late Friday with a post saying he’d “agreed with Fox News” to debate Harris before a live audience on Sept 4 in Pennsylvania.
Trump “is trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to” and Harris will “be there one way or the other” on ABC on Sept. 10, Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said in a statement Saturday. “We’re happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to,” he said.
Trump replied with a post on his Truth Social platform that denigrated Harris’ intelligence and her association with Biden’s record. “I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all,” he said.
The jockeying raises the possibility that US voters won’t see a debate between the two main candidates before the general election on Nov 5.
In an earlier post, Trump said the previous agreement lapsed with Biden’s exit from the presidential race. He also cited a conflict of interest, saying he’s in litigation with ABC and anchor George Stephanopoulos. David Muir and Linsey Davis, not Stephanopoulos, are ABC’s proposed debate hosts.
Trump said the Sept 4 timing “is convenient and appropriate in that it is just prior” to the start of early voting in some states on Sept. 6.
The first Biden-Trump debate in June produced a disastrous performance by the president that eventually led him to drop out of the 2024 contest and endorse Harris.
Trump and his campaign previously declined to commit to any further debate, saying those plans could not be formalized until Democrats officially tapped their replacement for Biden.
The Democratic National Committee said Friday that Harris had secured enough delegates in the party’s virtual roll-call vote to secure the nomination. The ballot ends on Monday.