Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday that she’s “ready to debate Donald Trump,” agreeing to the Sept. 10 date previously set to be hosted by ABC News.
“[Trump] agreed to that previously. Now here he is backpedaling, and I’m ready and I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage. And so I’m ready to go,” Harris told reporters after Air Force Two landed at Joint Base Andrews.
Her statement comes after Trump committed to debating Harris earlier this week, while pushing for the more conservative Fox News to also hold a debate, calling ABC “a joke.” The vice president on Thursday accused Trump of “backpedaling,” though he said this week that he would debate her regardless and would be willing to do so multiple times.
Following Harris’ comments, a Trump spokesperson on late Thursday did not complete debate plans but said “general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee.”
“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,’” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement. “Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds.”
Back in May, Trump and President Joe Biden agreed to two debates: a June 27 CNN face-off, and another on Sept. 10 with ABC. Biden’s June performance led to his campaign’s demise, prompting Democrats to launch a weekslong effort to push him to exit the race.
Trump has said he believes Harris would be “easier” to beat than the president “because he was slightly more mainstream, but not much.”
