Donald Trump says he will withdraw from a scheduled September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on ABC and wants them to face off on Fox News , making it increasingly unlikely that the two candidates will face each other on stage before the November election.
In a series of “Truth Society” posts Friday night, the Republican candidate and former president said his agreement to hold a debate on ABC on September 10 was “terminating” because he would no longer face Democratic President Joe Biden. Biden, who ended his campaign last month.
Trump now says he will be interviewed on Fox News in Pennsylvania on September 4, saying the rules will be “similar” to his debate with Biden, but with a full audience instead of a nearly empty studio . Trump said he would hold a “big town hall” with Fox News if potential Democratic nominee Harris doesn’t agree to the new network and date.
Harris spokesman Michael Taylor said Trump was “terrified, trying to withdraw from a debate he had agreed to and running directly to Fox News to bail him out.”
It’s unclear whether ABC will convert the Sept. 10 event into a Harris town hall without Trump. Taylor said Harris is committed to the time slot and will “show up in some way to use this opportunity to speak to a national audience in prime time.”
In a subsequent Truth Society post on Saturday afternoon, Trump said of Harris, “I will see her on September 4th or I won’t see her at all.”
Trump has been arguing with Harris since she entered the presidential race. He told reporters he felt obligated to hold the debate, but also said in a recent interview with Fox News that he believed Americans “already know everything there is to know about both candidates.” Harris urged Trump to abide by Biden’s campaign policy commitment. Harris took note of Trump’s criticism of her and recently encouraged him to “speak out to her face.”
In his “Truth Society” post, Trump also called his lawsuit against ABC News a “conflict of interest” over his participation in debates on the network. Trump sued the network in March after anchor George Stephanopoulos claimed that Trump was “responsible for rape.” A New York jury found Trump liable for the sexual abuse of advice columnist E. Jean Carroll but rejected her claim that she was raped.
But two months after the lawsuit was filed, Trump agreed to participate in the ABC debate on September 10 and the CNN debate on June 27, helping Biden drop out of the race. David Muir and Lindsay Davis, not Stephanopoulos, will serve as ABC debate moderators.
Trump has previously absented himself from debates, including all 2024 Republican presidential primary debates.
