Donald Trump has backed out of his previously scheduled presidential debate on Sept. 10 on ABC News.
Instead, the former president shared on Truth Social early Saturday morning that he has agreed to debate Kamala Harris on Fox News on Sept. 4.
In his post, he wrote, “The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, thereby creating a conflict of interest.”
Trump agreed to the original debate on the network two months after he filed his suit against ABC News, and George Stephanopoulos was never set to moderate it.
He continued his post on Truth Social, explaining that his Fox News debate will be held in Pennsylvania and moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
“The Rules will be similar to the Rules of my Debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his Party – BUT WITH A FULL ARENA AUDIENCE,” he concluded one post, referring to the June 27 debate between Biden and Trump that eventually led to the president withdrawing his re-election bid and endorsing his vice president as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Harris replied to a screenshot of the Truth Social post on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “It’s interesting how ‘anytime, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe place.’” She added, “I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there.”
Her campaign communications director Michael Tyler also shared a statement posted to X. It reads: “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. He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10. The Vice President will be there one way or the other to take the opportunity to speak to a prime-time national audience. We’re happy to discuss further debates after the one both campaigns have already agreed to. Mr. Anytime, anywhere, anyplace should have no problem with that unless he’s too scared to show up on the 10th.”
At this time, it’s unclear if ABC will move forward with the debate. However, Trump posted in an ultimatum in another Truth Social post, writing, per The New York Times, “I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all.”
Trump backing out of the original debate schedule and platform comes a few days after he questioned Harris’ identity as a Black woman onstage at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago.
“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” he said during a live Q&A panel on Wednesday. “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian, or is she Black?”
He continued, “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden, she made a turn and she went — she became a Black person. I think somebody should look into that.”
Harris’ campaign released a statement following the former president’s remarks, calling his hostility “simply a taste of the chaos and division” that his campaign seeks and Americans can expect from a second term.
“The hostility Donald Trump showed onstage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power and inflict his harmful Project 2025 agenda on the American people,” her campaign communications director Michael Tyler wrote in a statement.
He added, “Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency — while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in. Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.”
Tyler concluded his statement with a note that Trump’s remarks at the convention consist of the same sentiment that American people would see on the debate stage “as Vice President Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans. All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on Sept. 10.”
