Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in November’s election, says he would “absolutely” debate Vice President Kamala Harris. But Trump’s campaign is noncommittal — and refuses to formally agree to a debate until Harris becomes the official Democratic nominee.
Harris, who has coalesced support from Democratic officeholders, donors and delegates after President Joe Biden exited the race Sunday, is her party’s presumptive nominee. That will not be formalized until delegates to the Democratic National Convention vote in early August.
In a statement released Thursday evening, Trump communications director Steven Cheung said a debate “cannot be finalized” until that vote occurs.
“There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party — namely Barack Hussein Obama — that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone ‘better,’” Cheung wrote. “Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds.”
Obama and his wife, Michelle, endorsed Harris for president on Friday morning.
In a post on X Thursday evening, Harris wrote, “What happened to ‘any time, any place’?” — a reference to Trump’s insistence in April that Biden debate him.
Trump wants debate to move to Fox
Trump previously agreed to two general election debates with Biden. The campaigns decided to sidestep the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has held every U.S. general election presidential debate since the 1980s, and organize their own with the help of TV networks. The first was hosted by CNN on June 27, and Biden’s shaky performance there was the first major event in the saga that let to Biden’s exit from the race. The second debate is scheduled for Sept. 10, to be hosted by ABC.
By circumventing the CPD, the three previously scheduled general election debates — including an Oct. 9 debate at the University of Utah — were canceled.
Now, the Trump campaign is noncommittal about whether the ABC debate will occur. Instead, the Trump campaign has pushed for a debate hosted by Fox News, and the network has sent a formal proposal to both campaigns pitching a Sept. 17 debate.
At the time Biden and Trump agreed on two debates, Trump called for even more, leading the Biden campaign to call for an end to the “debate about debates.”
“No more games,” a Biden campaign official said.
In a call with reporters Tuesday, Trump said he would “absolutely” be willing to debate Harris, and said he is “willing to do more than one debate, actually,” The New York Times reported. But he argued that his initial agreement was with Biden, not Harris, and he has made no commitment to appear in a debate with Harris.
“I haven’t agreed to anything. I agreed to debate with Joe Biden,” Trump said. “But I want to debate her, and she’ll be no different because they have the same policies.”