WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump announced he will skip a September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that would be hosted by ABC and said he wants to face off in a Fox News debate, making it increasingly unlikely that the candidates will face off on stage before the November presidential election.
In a series of posts on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday night, the Republican presidential candidate and former US president said his agreement to attend a September 10 debate on ABC “has been terminated” as he will no longer face Democratic President Joe Biden, who ended his re-election bid last month following intense pressure from the Democratic Party establishment following a disastrous showing in their first debate.
“I have agreed with Fox News debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4. The debate was previously scheduled against the ‘sleepy’ Joe Biden on ABC, but was canceled because Biden will no longer participate and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, which creates a conflict of interest,” the Republican candidate wrote in his Truth Social platform.
The former president said that the debate “will be held in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at a location yet to be determined” and clarified that “the rules will be similar” to those of his debate against Biden. “But with a packed arena!” Trump commented that if Harris, the virtual Democratic candidate, does not accept the new network and date, he will hold an “important” town hall meeting with Fox News.
Democratic reaction
Kamala Harris’ campaign team accused her Republican rival Donald Trump of “playing games” with the date of the debate between the two.
Trump “has not kept his word” and unilaterally changed the date and location of the presidential debate, said Michael Tyler, Harris’ communications director.
Trump “must stop playing games” and respect what he previously agreed with President Joe Biden when he was the Democratic candidate for the White House, and therefore appear “on September 10 on ABC,” Tyler said. But Trump says the agreement was to debate Biden.
“He’s scared” and “trying to back out of the debate he’s already agreed to by running straight to Fox News to bail him out,” Tyler said.
“I’ll be there on September 10th. I look forward to seeing you,” Harris said on social media X on Saturday.
Trump insists on the new date
“Different candidates or not, their bad policies are the same, and this will be revealed forcefully in the debate on September 4th,” Trump wrote, arguing that “this date is convenient and appropriate because it is just before the September 6th start of early voting in the Presidential Election.”
In a subsequent Truth Social post on Saturday afternoon, Trump said of Harris: “I will see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all.”
Trump accepted the conditions imposed by the Democrats on Joe Biden.
Source: EDITORIAL with information from AFP and EUROPA PRESS