Abhay Singh
Former President Donald Trump has announced he will no longer participate in a September ABC debate, instead accepting Fox News’ offer to debate Vice President Kamala Harris. The ABC debate was agreed upon when Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee, but Biden will no longer be a participant.
Trump also cited his active defamation lawsuit against ABC and its anchor George Stephanopoulos, which had been filed for months when Trump initially agreed to debate Biden on the network.
“It’s interesting how ‘any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space’.”
In September, after Biden endorsed Harris, Fox News offered Trump and Harris to debate on its network.The network appointed Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as moderators, which Trump agreed to in his Truth Social post.
In a Tweet posted on X, Kamala Harris said “It’s interesting how ‘any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space.’ I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there.”
Trump announced the debate in Pennsylvania, featuring a full arena audience, though Fox News’ representative did not provide any comment on the audience.
There was no crowd present at Trump and Biden’s June debate, which took place in an Atlanta CNN studio.
“He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10.”
The director of communications for the Harris campaign, Michael Tyler, said NBC News in a statement “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.”
He also added “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.”
A campaign official also said “it is our understanding that ABC intends to provide the airtime to whichever qualifying candidates show up — even if it is just her.”
“He’s scared. He’s scared. He’s scared.”
Trump’s Truth Social post coincided with Harris’ campaign’s online criticism of Trump, claiming he was hesitant to debate due to his ties to Project 2025, a conservative action plan for the next Republican administration.
Digital ads align with campaign messaging from a rally in Atlanta, where Sen. Jon Ossoff, criticized Trump for being “too scared” to debate the vice president, leading to thousands of attendees chanting “He’s scared.”
Later on in the evening, Harris spoke with the former president herself on stage, saying “Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. Because as the saying goes, if you got something to say.”
The Crowd shouted back “say it to my face!”
Trump also made his statement shortly after a pre recorded interview with Fox Business, during which he said to presenter Maria Bartiromo, “I mean, right now I say why should I have a debate? Everyone is aware of her, and I’m ahead in the polls. Everyone is familiar with me.
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