Former President Donald Trump announced that he has agreed to participate in a presidential debate against Kamala Harris, but on a different day and on a network more supportive of the MAGA movement than the one he had previously committed to.
After days of uncertainty over whether the Republican nominee would join the presumptive Democratic nominee for the second televised debate before the November election, Trump took to his social media platform late Friday night to say he was more than willing to take on his rival.
However, the rules will have to change.
“I have agreed with Fox News to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th,” Trump wrote, ignoring previous plans agreed to by the two campaigns earlier this year, which had held the second debate on ABC News on September 10.
The debate, originally scheduled against President Joe Biden, “has been interrupted” since his former opponent “will no longer participate,” Trump said.
Biden ended his tumultuous re-election campaign on July 21, less than a month after his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate.
Additionally, Trump said a debate on ABC News would create a “conflict of interest,” since the former president is currently suing the network and George Stephanopoulos for defamation over the host’s claim that a jury found Trump “raped” E. Jean Carroll.
On Saturday, a Harris campaign spokesperson called Trump’s announcement a sign that the twice-impeached president “is afraid,” as recent polls suggest a dramatic shift in favor of the de facto Democratic nominee.
Trump is “trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to participate in and is running straight to Fox News to bail him out,” Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement Saturday morning.
“He needs to stop playing games and show up for the debate he’s already committed to,” Tyler said. “Mr. Anytime, Anywhere, Anywhere shouldn’t have a problem with that, unless he’s too scared to show up on the 10th.”
But with or without Trump, Harris will be at the Sept. 10 debate “to take advantage of the opportunity to speak to a national audience in prime time,” Tyler promised.
Sources told CNN on Saturday that ABC News does indeed plan to provide airtime to whoever comes forward, even if it’s just Harris.
Harris’ team is also open to discussing other debates in the future, Tyler noted, but only “after the one that both campaigns have already agreed to.”
Trump responded Saturday afternoon by calling “crazy Kamala” a “low IQ individual who cannot compete with leaders of other countries.”
“Kamala Harris does not have the mental capacity to have a REAL debate with me, scheduled for September 4th in Pennsylvania,” he said on Truth Social. “I will see her on September 4th or I will not see her at all.”
