Former President Donald Trump said he has agreed to an offer from Fox News to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 4, according to a post on Truth Social late Friday.
“I have agreed with Fox News to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th,” he wrote on Truth Social. In the post, Trump claimed that ABC News’ debate, scheduled for Sept. 10, had been “terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant.”
However, the invitation to the ABC News debate — which Trump and Biden accepted in May — still remains open and Harris said last week she would attend.
“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. He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10,” Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement. “The Vice President will be there one way or the other to take the opportunity to speak to a prime time national audience. We’re happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to. Mr. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace should have no problem with that unless he’s too scared to show up on the 10th.”
The Harris campaign has not accepted the Fox debate and no further details have been released.
Trump said he had been willing to go toe-to-toe with President Joe Biden and agreed to the ABC News debate.
However, after Biden dropped out of the race last month and Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, Trump has been noncommittal about whether or not he would debate Harris.
“I want to do a debate. But I also can say this. Everybody knows who I am. And now people know who she is,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News last Monday.
Trump has skipped debates before and didn’t partake in any of the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates.
Meanwhile, Trump and Harris have kicked off an ad war targeting each other in key battleground states, with Harris launching a $50 million three-week ad blitz ahead of the Democratic National Convention while Trump has reserved $12 million worth of airtime across Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin, according to AdImpact.
