With it almost certain that Fox News will not be hosting a presidential debate this year, the conservative cable giant surprisingly proposed a vice presidential debate on Friday that Donald Trump’s campaign has already accepted.
Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier made the announcement during an appearance on Martha MacCallum’s afternoon news program, calling it the “Wild West of debate proposals.”
Fox’s request to host a VP showdown comes two days after President Joe Biden and Trump agreed to debate in June and September, with CNN and ABC News moderating those events. Baier also noted on Friday that Fox News has so far been unsuccessful in getting both campaigns to agree to a standoff on the right-wing channel.
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“We put out a debate proposal for a presidential debate. It was accepted by former President Trump [but] not accepted yet by the Biden camp in early October. And now there's a pitch, specifically for the vice presidential debate, that went out about a half-hour ago to both campaigns.”
According to Baier, the network is considering Virginia State University as a possible location for the debate, which would be held on July 23 or Aug. 13. VSU was originally selected by the Commission of Presidential Debates, which both the Trump and Biden campaigns circumvented this year, to be the first historically Black college or university to host a presidential debate.
Baier also revealed that even though the network had just sent out the requests, the Trump campaign and ex-president had already responded with an acceptance.
”On behalf of the future vice president of the United States who I have not yet chosen we hereby accept to the Fox vice presidential debate,” the Trump statement read. “Hopefully at Virginia State University, the first historically black college or university to host a debate. Date to be determined. I urge Vice President Kamala Harris to agree to this, and Make America Great Again.”
Harris, on the other hand, has already committed to CBS News's vice-presidential debate proposal, which also offered July 23 and Aug. 13 as possible dates. The Trump campaign, however, still has not responded to the CBS invitation.
Following weeks of Trump taunting the president into agreeing to a debate “anytime, any place,” even though the ex-president skipped out on every single GOP primary debate this election season, Biden put forward a challenge on Wednesday that quickly resulted in the CNN and ABC News debates being scheduled.
While Biden made it clear he was only proposing they meet twice before the election, Trump also announced on Wednesday that he had accepted Fox News’ invitation to appear for an Oct. 2 forum. The Biden campaign, noting that the president’s requirements for a debate essentially disqualified Fox News, accused Trump of “playing games” with the faceoffs.
“No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates. We’ll see Donald Trump on June 27th in Atlanta–if he shows up,” Biden campaign co-chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
Pointing out the “strange dynamic” at play in locking down the debates, especially since Trump has yet to pick a running mate, Baier said Fox is keeping its options open in case both campaigns can come to an agreement.
“The Biden campaign and President Biden had agreed to [two presidential debates] at the beginning and we'll see if he expands that, but there's a vice presidential debate that will happen,” he said. “Obviously, the Trump campaign has accepted our offer. Hopefully, it will be Virginia State University and an HBCU.”
Meanwhile, as CNN prepares to host the first debate next month, Trump’s allies at Fox News are already declaring that the network’s moderators will be a problem for the presumptive GOP nominee. Suggesting that Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will be in the tank for Biden, Fox’s primetime stars have claimed that the CNN anchors are “disqualified” to moderate a debate.
