Trump backs out of ABC debate, says he will only face Harris on Fox

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Saturday that he will no longer appear at a previously scheduled debate on Sept. 10 and will only debate Vice President Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, if she agrees to his terms – a debate on Sept. 4, hosted by Fox News, with a “full arena audience.”

Trump had agreed to a presidential debate on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC News before President Biden dropped out of the race last month. Harris said Saturday that she would show up for the previously negotiated date regardless of whether Trump attends.

But Trump said Saturday that if Harris does not agree to the new format on Fox News, he would refuse to debate altogether.

“I’ll see her September 4th, or I won’t see her at all,” he posted on his social network, Truth Social.

The qualification terms for the ABC debate that Trump had previously agreed to did not specify the names of the candidates. To be eligible to attend the debate, candidates had to reach at least 15% support in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters, ABC said when it released its requirements in May.

“It’s interesting how ‘any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space,’ ” Harris posted on X on Saturday, referring to Trump’s comments during debate negotiations with Biden. “I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there.”

Trump falsely claimed late Friday that Harris had agreed to the debate on Fox. There’s no evidence that such a deal existed. The Harris campaign said Saturday that she never agreed to a new debate deal. A person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning, said the campaign held no negotiations with Trump or Fox about a new debate. Fox representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump’s decision to reopen debate negotiations has restarted a network scramble. CBS News, which had proposed a vice-presidential debate that Biden’s campaign had accepted, has circulated a proposal for a vice-presidential debate on Sept. 3 and presidential debate on Sept. 4, the same date as the Fox debate Trump has described, according to a person familiar with the proposal who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private communications.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, the traditional mediator for debates, has also said it is ready to move forward with its previously scheduled debates if the candidates are interested.

Harris spokesman Michael Tyler said the campaign would discuss additional debates after the one to which Trump agreed.

“Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out,” Tyler said. “Mr. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace should have no problem with that unless he’s too scared to show up on the 10th,” he added, referring to language Trump previously used to pressure Biden into agreeing to a faceoff.

The Harris campaign understands that ABC intends to provide the airtime to whichever qualifying candidates show up, even if it is just her, according to a campaign official.

In Friday’s post, Trump also raised objections to ABC serving as moderator, even though he previously accepted the network’s role. Trump referenced a lawsuit against ABC accusing host George Stephanopoulos of defaming him by misstating a jury verdict in a New York trial that found the former president liable for sexual abuse. A federal judge in Florida said in July that the case could proceed.

Trump agreed to the ABC debate in May two months after filing his lawsuit against the network. The moderators will be David Muir and Linsey Davis, not Stephanopoulos.

Trump spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests to clarify his post on Saturday.

ABC representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“A reminder that the Trump campaign never agreed to a VP debate with VP Harris either. She had accepted two different dates on CBS, and they never agreed,” Brian Fallon, communications director for the Harris campaign, wrote on X. “They were afraid to debate her as the running mate. Now they are afraid to debate her at the top of the ticket.”