Kamala Harris is holding her ground on upcoming debate plans, despite Donald Trump’s increased efforts to get them changed. Looking to back out of the previously planned ABC-hosted presidential debate scheduled for Sept. 10, Trump announced a Fox News-hosted debate Friday – complete with arena-sized audience – set up for Sept. 4. Harris responded to that plan on X on Saturday, noting that she’d be at the Sept. 10 debate and hoped to see Trump there for the originally scheduled confrontation.
“It’s interesting how ‘any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space,’” Harris posted, alluding to Fox News’ famed bias for right-wing figures, including Trump. “I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there.”
The Harris campaign has been firing back against Trump since he pulled out of the ABC debate and other future debates, including Harris mocking Trump at an Atlanta rally and saying that if Trump had “something to say, say it to my face.” The Harris campaign issued a statement that said Trump was “running scared” by trying to shift the debate to Fox News with an arena audience.
“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,” the statement read.
“He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10. The Vice President will be there one way or the other to take the opportunity to speak to a prime-time national audience,” the Harris campaign continued.
The campaign also mocked Trump’s attempts to reschedule the debate and move it to Fox News on Harris’ official social media campaign account.
Trump’s plea for the Fox News debate came on Friday where he laid out the plan on his Truth Social account.
“I have agreed with FoxNews to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th,” Trump said on his conservative social media platform. “The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, thereby creating a conflict of interest.”
“The FoxNews Debate will be held in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at a site in an area to be determined,” Trump continued. “The Moderators of the Debate will be Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, and the Rules will be similar to the Rules of my Debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his Party – BUT WITH A FULL ARENA AUDIENCE!….”
Trump added in a second post, “….As everyone knows, the Democrats have Unconstitutionally taken a Candidate, who was acknowledged to be defeated, and unceremoniously replaced him with a new Candidate. This has never been done before, and is a Threat to Democracy, but I am totally prepared to accept the results of this ‘coup,’ and replace Joe on the Debate stage with Crazy Kamala Harris.”
The former president went on to complain about Republicans’ investment in combating Biden. “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! Nevertheless, different Candidate or not, their bad Policies are the same, and this will be strongly revealed at the September 4th Debate.”
“I look forward to meeting and debating Kamala Harris on September 4th. This date is convenient and appropriate in that it is just prior to the September 6th start of Early Voting in the 2024 Presidential Election. I look forward to seeing everyone on September 4th, in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania!” Trump concluded.
It’s unclear where Trump’s Sept. 4 date originated — a letter from Fox News to the candidates had previously requested a debate on Sept. 17, a week after the previously agreed upon Sept. 10 ABC date. The Harris campaign has said the vice president will attend the Sept. 10 debate whether Trump shows up or not.
It remained unclear if they would be open to participating in both debates once Trump agreed on the ABC debate, if they would agree to a Fox News debate on Sept. 17 as the network itself had proposed, or some other arrangement. The first presidential debate of this year between Trump and Biden in June, during which Biden appeared to struggle and whose performance was widely panned, ultimately helped lead to his exit from the Democratic ticket.
