Former president Donald Trump said Tuesday that he and Vice President Kamala Harris will be debating on ABC News on September 10 after he threatened to skip the debate two days ago because of the network’s alleged biased against him.
“I have reached an agreement with the Radical Left Democrats for a Debate with Comrade Kamala Harris. It will be Broadcast Live on ABC FAKE NEWS, by far the nastiest and most unfair newscaster in the business, on Tuesday, September 10th, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The former president confirmed that the ABC debate will have the same rules as the CNN presidential debate in June, where microphones were turned off for candidates when it was not their turn to speak. The Trump and Harris campaigns did not see eye-to-eye on the microphone policy for the CNN debate, but Trump’s post suggests the issue was resolved.
CNN’s debate did not permit candidates to bring pre-written notes to the stage and it required candidates to stand for the duration of the contest. The CNN face-0ff between Trump and President Joe Biden proved to be enormously consequential for the presidential race. Biden’s nightmarish debate showing prompted a Democratic revolt over his declining mental faculties, leading Biden to drop out of the presidential race three weeks after the debate.
On Monday, Harris’s campaign taunted Trump and suggested that Trump’s handlers were calling the shots on the debate dispute. When asked about the issue on the campaign trail, Trump seemed indifferent to whether the microphones remained on or not. After Trump’s post, the Harris campaign countered and mocked him for purportedly caving to his campaign advisors on the microphone issue.
Currently, the ABC debate is the only matchup the two campaigns have agreed to. Trump said that Harris did not agree to a proposed Fox News debate next week or a potential NBC debate following the ABC contest.
Democrats have been euphoric over Harris’s candidacy following Biden’s decision to drop out, bolstering her poll numbers and fueling record-high fundraising hauls.
The consequences of the CNN debate and Harris’s lack of media availability during her brief presidential campaign will add to the enormous stakes of the ABC News matchup next month. Harris has largely avoided press scrutiny since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee and has yet to sit down for a major interview. Her first primetime interview as the Democratic nominee is scheduled to take place on CNN Thursday night.
Instead of speaking to the press, Harris’s spokespeople have given statements on her behalf backpedaling on the policy positions she held during her failed 2020 presidential primary run.