Donald Trump has pulled out of a debate with Kamala Harris due to the “chaos” in the Democratic Party, but promised the debate would happen “anytime, anywhere.”
The former president had initially said on Tuesday that he would “absolutely” debate Harris after Joe Biden withdrew from the race, saying it was likely that his vice president would replace Harris.
But on Thursday night, Trump backed out of going ahead with the September 10 debate with Biden, which he had already scheduled, and also of holding a new debate — at least until Harris is confirmed as the Democratic nominee.
Steven Cheung, the campaign’s communications director, argued that there had been too much “chaos” among Democrats since Biden abandoned his re-election campaign.
Donald Trump has withdrawn from the debate with Kamala Harris, at least until she is confirmed as the Democratic nominee
Kamala Harris, pictured during her 2020 debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence, said she was ready for a debate with Trump
“Given the ongoing political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, the details of the general election debate cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee,” he said.
‘Many in the Democratic Party, particularly Barack Hussein Obama, believe Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump. They are still hoping for someone ‘better.’
“Therefore, it would not be appropriate to schedule any business with Harris, because the Democrats could still change their minds.”
The Democratic National Convention from August 19 to 22 will officially determine the party’s presidential nominee, but Harris has already secured enough delegates.
Biden and Trump agreed to hold two debates during the presidential campaign: on June 27 on CNN and on September 10 on ABC.
However, the first debate was so disastrous for Biden that it caused three weeks of chaos, leading to him withdrawing from the campaign.
Harris mocked Trump after his campaign put on hold its announced debate schedule for at least the next few weeks
Harris said she was eager to stick to the agreed-upon schedule, but earlier Thursday she said it appeared Trump was not fully behind it.
“I agreed to the debate on September 10th, which he agreed to earlier. Now it looks like he’s backing out,” she said.
“I think voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage. I’m ready for it. So let’s go.”
Harris then ridiculed Trump after his campaign-announced debate schedule was put on hold for at least the next few weeks.
“What happened to ‘any time, any place’?” she wrote on Twitter.
Trump stressed during a news conference Tuesday that he would “absolutely” debate whether Harris was open to adding another election to the calendar.
“I agreed to debate Joe Biden. But I want to debate her and she will be no different because they have the same policies,” he said.
‘I would actually like to have more than one debate.’
Trump said a debate with Harris would be “probably similar” to a debate with Biden.
“She’s the same as Biden, but much more radical. She’s a radical leftist, and this country doesn’t want a radical leftist destroying it,” he claimed.
The first debate was such a disaster for Joe Biden that it caused three weeks of chaos, ending with his campaign being terminated.
Trump said that while he supports the ABC debate, he would prefer another network, such as Fox News.
“I’m not happy with ABC. I think they’ve committed, but I have at least as much say in it, and I don’t like the idea of ABC,” he said.
Fox, which has a friendlier stance toward the former president, had previously indicated interest in hosting a debate and Trump said the interest was mutual.
“Now that Joe has, unsurprisingly, dropped out of the race, I think the debate with whoever the radical left Democrats choose should be on Fox News instead of the highly biased ABC,” he wrote Sunday on his Truth Social platform.