Donald Trump on Monday claimed Kamala Harris is refusing to take part in a presidential debate on Fox News which was being considered for next month.
“Comrade Kamala Harris has just informed us that she will NOT do the FoxNews Debate on September 4th,” the former president wrote on his Truth Social platform. Instead, Trump said he’s agreed to do a “Tele-Town Hall, anchored by Sean Hannity, for Fox” in Pennsylvania.
Harris’ campaign has not confirmed it has declined to go ahead with the debate, but it has previously indicated it would not do the Fox News event. Last week, the campaign said it would take part in two presidential debates and a vice presidential debate.
“Assuming Donald Trump actually shows up on September 10 to debate Vice President Harris, then Governor Walz will see JD Vance on October 1 and the American people will have another opportunity to see the vice president and Donald Trump on the debate stage in October,” campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement, according to the Hill.
ABC News has confirmed that both Trump and Harris have agreed to take part in its debate on September 10. No date has yet been set for a second debate in October.
In his Truth Social post, Trump claimed he’d expected Harris to give her apparent thumbs down to the Fox debate.
“I am not surprised by this development because I feel that she knows it is very difficult, at best, for her to defend her record setting Flip-Flopping on absolutely everything she once believed in,” he wrote before attacking her record.
Trump claimed Harris said “THERE WILL BE NO FRACKING IN PENNSYLVANIA,” though failed to note she has since disavowed her call to ban fracking. He also misleadingly described her as a “Border Czar,” blaming her for “millions of criminals and people from mental institutions and terrorists” being allowed into the country, despite the fact that she never had responsibility for policing the border.
In addition to the presidential debates, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have lined up their head-to-head on CBS News on Oct. 1. Vance has challenged Walz to accept more events, saying the “American people deserve as many debates as possible,” but it’s not clear if there will be further vice presidential debates.
The squabbling around debate dates came after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month following his disastrous debate performance against Trump in June.
Trump initially “terminated” their planned second debate on Sept. 10 following Biden’s withdrawal from the race, pushing for a Fox News event instead, before recommitting to the ABC showdown.
