Donald Trump has decided not to debate Kamala Harris, citing “chaos” within the Democratic Party, after having promised that the debate would take place “anytime, anywhere.”
The former president had initially said Tuesday that he would “absolutely” debate Harris after Joe Biden dropped out of the race, as his vice president, Harris, would likely replace him.
But Trump on Thursday night backed away from his intention to hold the Sept. 10 debate he had already scheduled with Biden, or to host a new one, at least until Harris is confirmed as the Democratic nominee.
Steven Cheung, the campaign’s communications director, said Democrats were in “too much chaos” since Biden abandoned his re-election bid.
Donald Trump has withdrawn from the debate with Kamala Harris at least until she is confirmed as the Democratic candidate.
Kamala Harris, pictured during her 2020 debate with then-Vice President Mike Pence, said she was ready to debate Trump.
“Given the continued political chaos surrounding corrupt 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.
‘There is a strong sense among many in the Democratic Party – most notably Barack Hussein Obama – that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who can’t beat President Trump, and they are still waiting for someone ‘better.’
“So it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats could very well change their minds yet.”
The Democratic National Convention from August 19 to 22 will officially determine the party’s nominee for president, but Harris has already secured enough delegates.
Biden and Trump agreed to two debates during the presidential campaign, on June 27 on CNN and September 10 on ABC.
The first debate, however, was a disaster for Biden, setting off three weeks of chaos that ended with the end of his campaign.
Harris mocked Trump after his campaign announced that debate planning was on hold for at least the next few weeks.
Harris said she was willing to stick to the agreed-upon timeline, but earlier Thursday she said it appeared Trump was not committed.
“I had already agreed to the debate on September 10, which we had previously agreed to, and now it seems that he is backtracking,” he said.
“I think voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage. I’m ready. So let’s go.”
Harris then mocked Trump after his campaign announced that debate planning would be on hold for at least the next few weeks.
“What happened to ‘anytime, anywhere’?” he wrote on Twitter in response.
Trump, in a news conference with reporters on Tuesday, insisted he would “absolutely” debate Harris and was open to adding another to the schedule.
“I agreed to debate Joe Biden, but I want to debate her and it won’t be any different because they have the same policies,” he said.
“I would actually be willing to have more than one debate.”
Trump said debating Harris would be “probably similar” to debating Biden.
“He’s just like Biden, but much more radical. He’s a radical leftist person, and this country doesn’t want a radical leftist person destroying it,” he said.
The first debate was a disaster for Joe Biden, setting off three weeks of chaos that ended with the end of his campaign.
Trump said that while he had pledged to participate in the ABC debate, he would prefer it be hosted by another network, such as the right-wing Fox News.
“I’m not very happy with ABC. I guess they made a compromise, but I have at least an equal say, and I don’t like the idea of ABC,” he said.
Fox, which gives Trump almost uniformly positive coverage, previously said it was interested in hosting a debate and Trump said it was mutual.
“Now that Joe has predictably dropped out of the race, I think the debate, whichever candidate the radical left Democrats choose, should be held on FoxNews, rather than the very biased ABC,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.