*In a stirring development late Friday night, former President Donald Trump announced via his Truth Social account that he has accepted an offer from Fox News to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on September 4. The debate is scheduled to take place in Pennsylvania and will be hosted by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
Trump’s announcement was briefly taken down before being reposted without his initial mention of a “major” town hall meeting if Harris declined to debate him.
“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by his party, but with a full arena audience,” Trump posted, referring to President Joe Biden, who had recently withdrawn from the election race.
At the time of Trump’s announcement, it remained unclear if Vice President Harris had agreed to the Fox News debate. Harris has notably pushed for Trump to adhere to the originally scheduled September 10 debate on ABC News, which was initially designed as a head-to-head with then-candidate Biden.
Previously, Trump had consented to the ABC News debate. However, following Biden’s exit and Harris’ ascension as the Democratic nominee, Trump expressed concerns about fairness, citing his ongoing litigation against ABC and anchor George Stephanopoulos as a “conflict of interest.”
“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,” Trump also stated in his Truth Social post.
The move comes amid internal dynamics within the Democratic Party, as Harris secured enough votes to finally clinch the nomination without having won a single primary. This unexpected development followed a wave of dissatisfaction with President Biden’s performance in a June debate, prompting party leaders to seek new leadership.
Harris did not let Trump’s new proposal go unchallenged. At a campaign event on Tuesday, she publicly taunted Trump for backing out of the previously scheduled September 10 debate.
“Here’s the funny thing about that: So he won’t debate, but he and his running mate sure seemed to have a lot to say about me,” Harris remarked, to the raucous cheers of her supporters. “I do hope you’ll reconsider and meet me on the debate stage, because, as the saying goes, ‘if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face!’” she added, accentuating her readiness to confront Trump.
As Harris secured the Democratic nomination, Trump and his campaign have continued to stress the necessity of formalizing debate plans, awaiting Harris’ acceptance of the Fox News setup. His campaign team previously mentioned that the debate logistics would not be finalized until Harris was officially recognized as the Democratic nominee which is now a done deal.
As the drama unfolds, all eyes will be on Trump and Harris, eagerly awaiting to see if the Democratic Vice President will accept the challenge to debate on Fox News or continue to push for the originally scheduled ABC News debate. This anticipated showdown could be a pivotal moment in the current political race, offering insights into the strategies and agendas from both sides of the aisle. Stay tuned for what promises to be a gripping, high-stakes encounter.
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