Former President Trump announced on Friday night that he has accepted Fox News’ proposal to debate Vice President Kamala Harris. The debate is scheduled for September 4 in Pennsylvania, although the exact location has not been finalized.
Trump noted that an earlier ABC News debate with President Biden had been canceled following Biden’s suspension of his re-election campaign. Trump cited his ongoing lawsuit against ABC and host George Stephanopoulos as reasons for the cancellation. On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, “I have agreed with Fox News to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th. The debate was initially scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but it has been terminated as Biden will no longer participate, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, creating a conflict of interest.”
The debate will be moderated by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, with rules similar to the June 27 CNN debate against Biden. Unlike the CNN debate, which did not have an audience, the Fox News debate will include spectators.
Fox News had extended invitations to both Trump and Harris for a debate in Pennsylvania on September 17. Harris expressed her readiness to debate Trump and accused him of avoiding the previously agreed ABC News debate on September 10.
Following Biden’s announcement to drop his re-election campaign, Harris secured enough delegates to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. Trump initially hesitated to debate Harris, as she was not the official candidate after Biden’s exit. However, with Harris now officially the nominee, Trump confirmed his participation. He wrote, “As everyone knows, the Democrats have unconstitutionally taken a candidate, who was acknowledged to be defeated, and replaced him with a new candidate. This has never been done before and is a threat to democracy, but I am prepared to accept the results of this ‘coup’ and debate Crazy Kamala Harris.”
Trump continued, “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! Regardless of the candidate, their bad policies remain the same, and this will be clearly revealed at the September 4th debate. I look forward to meeting and debating Kamala Harris on September 4th, just before the September 6th start of early voting in the 2024 presidential election. I look forward to seeing everyone in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania!”
