Donald Trump’s campaign fired back at Kamala Harris on Thursday, digging in its heels over the prospect of debating the likely Democratic presidential nominee and confirming the former president will not participate—at least not yet.
Harris had hours earlier slammed Trump in response to rumblings about his decision, accusing his campaign of “backpedaling” on an agreement to debate her.
However, in confirming Trump would not partake, his campaign blamed Democratic Party instability.
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“Given the continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, general election details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee,” the campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung said in a statement. “There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party—namely Barack Hussein Obama—that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone ‘better.’ Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds.”
It didn’t take long for Harris to respond. “What happened to ‘any time, any place’?” the vice president wrote on X, referring to Trump’s eager words months ago regarding a debate against President Joe Biden.
After a glowing reception at an American Federation of Teachers event on Thursday, Harris criticized the former president and 2024 GOP nominee upon her return to Washington, D.C., for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump “previously agreed upon a September 10th debate, Harris said. “He agreed to that previously; it now appears he’s backpedaling. But I’m ready. And I think that voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage. And so I’m ready. Let’s go.” She soon reiterated those comments on X.
Before Biden announced he was dropping out of the race following a disastrous debate performance, the two men had been scheduled for another face-off on Sept. 10. Trump told reporters earlier this week that he had not made any agreements with Harris, but would be willing to debate her multiple times.
The apprehension that the 78-year-old appeared to hone in on, however, concerned the network who would air and moderate the debate.
“I’m not thrilled with ABC,” Trump said. “I guess they committed but I have at least equal say, and I don’t like the idea of ABC.”
At 59, Harris is likely to be a much more formidable opponent on the debate stage than Biden was. She was declared the winner in 2020 of her vice presidential debate against former Vice President Mike Pence; and as a former prosecutor, she showed off her star power years ago when she questioned big names like now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Trump previously called her “extraordinarily nasty” for that particular grilling.)
Trump’s team has confirmed that the two candidates will meet in front of the American public, though it remains to be seen exactly when and on what platform.
“A debate will happen,” Trump spokesperson Jason Miller told Axios on Thursday morning. “I’m not sure it will be ABC.”
