Earlier this week, Fox News invited Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to participate in a September debate, seemingly at Trump’s behest. Now, he says he’s putting a pause on appearing.
In a statement released Thursday, the Trump campaign said that “general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee.” However, Vice President Kamala Harris has already secured enough delegates to be appointed the party’s official nominee for President after Joe Biden announced his intention to step away from the race earlier this week.
After calling Harris “a Marxist fraud” who “cannot beat President Trump”, the campaign claimed the opposition was “still holding out for someone” better than the Vice President.
“Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds,” the statement concluded.
Donald Trump had previously committed to debate President Biden in an event hosted by ABC News on Tuesday, September 10th. After Biden signaled his intention to leave the race, Trump shared his displeasure with the event being hosted by the Disney-owned network. He currently is the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the organization and anchor George Stephanopoulos after the longtime newsman said the former President was guilty of rape during a March interview of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) after a jury ruled he had sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s.
On his Truth Social account, Trump said “I think the next debate, whomever the radical left Democrats choose, should be on Fox News.” The network subsequently sent letters to both the Trump and Harris campaigns proposing a September 17th debate, moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, to be held in Pennsylvania, before Trump reneged on participating in any such events.
