Donald Trump had agreed to debate Joe Biden in September, but then backed out when Kamala Harris appeared to be the party’s nominee.
Then Trump recommitted to the debate and now that Harris has officially been named the party’s nominee, will he again back out?
The former president laid the groundwork for not taking part in the Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News in a lengthy post to his social media site Sunday.
“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters, and I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network? Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamala’s best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle’ George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved. They’ve got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!”
Trump’s decision to go on ABC sets up a high-stakes moment in an election where Biden’s catastrophic performance in the last debate set in motion his withdrawal.
Trump had declared he would not debate on ABC and said his agreement with the network had been “terminated.” He wrote on his social media site that if Harris wouldn’t appear on Fox News on Sept. 4 instead, “I won’t see her at all.”
Later, he announced a change of heart — and tried to pressure Harris to agree to two more September debates on Fox and on NBC.
Asked at the time what he will do if a Harris only agrees to the ABC debate, he said: “I don’t know how that’s gonna work out. We’d like to do three debates. We think we should do three debates.”
Harris told reporters she was “glad he has finally committed” to debate her on ABC on Sept. 10, the date that had originally been set for a Biden faceoff against Trump and which her campaign has long stuck to.
“I’m looking forward to it and hope he shows up,” she said at the time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @MatthewArco.
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Publish date : 2024-08-26 02:10:00
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