Former President Donald Trump announced on social media late Friday that he booked a presidential debate with Fox News on Sept. 4 — without clearing the plan with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Harris has consistently said she plans on attending the Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News that has been on the calendar for months.
“We’re happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to,” Michael Tyler, her campaign communications director, said in a statement on Saturday.
“Mr. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace should have no problem with that unless he’s too scared to show up on the 10th,” Tyler added.
Trump originally wrote on his Truth Social platform that, if Harris was “unwilling or unable to debate” on Sept. 4, he would hold “a major Town Hall” the same night. He later deleted and reposted his debate message on Truth Social without the talk of a town hall-style event.
Trump has pushed for the next debate to take place on the right-wing Fox network ever since Harris took President Joe Biden’s spot atop the Democratic ticket.
Harris, however, is not simply waiting around to see if Trump will show up on Sept. 10.
Her communications director said she “will be there one way or the other to take the opportunity to speak to a prime time national audience.”
“Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out,” Tyler said.
Donald Trump discusses a Fox News debate on Truth Social.
In recent days Trump has questioned why he should debate Harris, arguing that voters already know who he is. He has refused to honor his commitment to the ABC News debate that both campaigns signed onto two months before Biden halted his reelection bid.
Biden’s abysmal performance in a June 27 debate with Trump, hosted by CNN, sparked a panic within the Democratic Party that eventually led to his dropping out a month later.
Harris, who secured enough support from Democratic convention delegates to become her party’s presumptive nominee on Friday, has emphasized that she is “ready” to debate Trump.
The Republican nominee wrote on Friday that the ABC News debate has been “terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant.” He also cited an ongoing lawsuit against the network as a reason for the change, despite the fact that Trump was already engaged in litigation with ABC News in May when he agreed to the face-off.
Harris told an Atlanta crowd Tuesday that she hoped Trump would “reconsider” meeting her on the debate stage.
“As the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face,” Harris said at a campaign rally.
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