Donald Trump has said he has agreed to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on September 4 in an event which will be moderated by Fox News.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he is “totally prepared” to accept the “coup” which saw the Democrats replace President Joe Biden as the party’s presumptive 2024 nominee, and is willing to meet “on debate stage with Crazy Kamala Harris.”
It is unclear if Harris has agreed to the Fox News debate and its terms. The Democrat was previously prepared to face off against Trump at the pre-arranged ABC News debate on September 10, which had been scheduled before Biden dropped out of the race.
“I have agreed with Fox News to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th. The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos [Stephanopoulos], thereby creating a conflict of interest,” Trump wrote.
“The Fox News Debate will be held in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at a site in an area to be determined.”
The Context
It was Biden’s poor and languished performance at the first presidential debate hosted by CNN on June 27 which eventually led to the president ending his reelection campaign and endorsing Harris for the Democratic nomination.
Harris has since seen waves of support and enthusiasm for her White House bid and is beating Trump in multiple polls.
On Friday, Harris’ campaign accused Trump of being “too scared” to face the vice president in a debate and that the Republican “needs to man up.”
Harris had also increased the pressure on Trump to appear on a debate stage with her, telling a crowd at a campaign rally in Georgia that if the former president has anything to say about her then he should “say it to my face.”
What We Know
Trump claims in his Truth Social post that the moderators of the September 4 debate will be Fox News’ Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
Trump also said the rules of the debate will be similar to the ones at the CNN debate, which featured muted microphones when each candidate was not able to speak, in order to avoid interruptions.
The former president added that unlike the CNN debate, the event hosted by Fox News will feature a “full arena audience.”
Trump also showed some sympathy for Biden, who he suggests has been “treated horribly” by his party after dozens of members publicly urged him to drop out of the 2024 race.
“As everyone knows, the Democrats have Unconstitutionally taken a Candidate, who was acknowledged to be defeated, and unceremoniously replaced him with a new Candidate. This has never been done before, and is a Threat to Democracy,” Trump said.
“I spent Hundreds of Millions of Dollars, Time, and Effort fighting Joe, and when I won the Debate, they threw a new Candidate into the ring. Not fair, but it is what it is! Nevertheless, different Candidate or not, their bad Policies are the same, and this will be strongly revealed at the September 4th Debate.
“I look forward to meeting and debating Kamala Harris on September 4th. This date is convenient and appropriate in that it is just prior to the September 6th start of Early Voting in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
Harris formally secured the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination on Friday.
Michael Tyler, Harris’ campaign communications director, later accused Trump of “running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out.”
The litigation against ABC News referenced by Trump is a lawsuit the former president filed against the network and George Stephanopoulos after the host said on air that the former president was found “liable for rape” by a jury in a case involving writer E. Jean Carroll.
In 2023, a New York civil court found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll in 1996, but the jury did not find he had raped her. The judge overseeing the civil case later wrote in two separate filings that Trump had raped Carroll under a broader definition used in other states, including now in New York.
A civil defamation trial for the Trump/ABC News suit is set to take place in April 2025. Newsweek has contacted ABC for comment via email.
Trump has denied all claims against him.
Views
Democratic pollster and strategist Matt McDermott posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Let’s be clear: the ABC News debate is not ‘terminated.’ It’s scheduled, and both candidates already agreed to participate.
“Donald Trump is backing out, because he’s afraid of actually debating Kamala Harris.’
Pro-Trump social media user Joey Mannarino, who has more than 494,000 followers on X added: “Trump was NEVER afraid of debating Kamala Harris. I don’t think people realize that she’s going to come off awfully in a debate against him. He’ll be cool and calm like in the debate against Biden and Kamala will be screaming her brains out, hurling accusations, calling him a ‘rapist’ and all her usual lines.
“She’ll look unhinged. He’ll match it with calmness and coolness. It’s not going to be the win she thinks she’s getting.”
Update 08/03/2024 11:12 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director Michael Tyler.
