Trump proposes earlier debate date, Harris says no
ATLANTA—The campaign of US Vice President Kamala Harris turned down an earlier election debate date proposed by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, saying he was “running scared.”
Trump said he would debate Harris on Fox News on Sept. 4, but the Harris campaign countered that Trump was trying to back out of a debate already set on ABC on Sept. 10.
The Republican and his then Democratic rival had agreed to a second debate on Sept. 10 on ABC News, which the Republican standard-bearer suggested should be moved to Fox after Biden had stepped out of the race.
Harris, who on Friday secured the delegate votes needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for the Nov. 5 election, said on Saturday she plans to participate in the originally planned debate.
‘Afraid to do it’
“I’ll be there on Sept. 10, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there,” she wrote on social media platform X.
Harris spokesperson Michael Tyler said Trump was “running scared” and that her campaign was happy to discuss further debates after Sept. 10.
On Saturday, Trump said on Truth Social that Harris is “afraid to do it” and that he will see her on Sept. 4, “or, I won’t see her at all.”
Both candidates have been crisscrossing the country aggressively, with Trump trying out fresh lines of attack against Harris, who some polls show is in a virtual dead heat with the former president.
At a rally in Atlanta on Saturday night, Trump attacked Harris’ character and the policies she has promoted as vice president, and he continued to raise questions about her racial identity.
‘Black’ heritage
On Thursday, Trump suggested to the country’s largest annual gathering of Black journalists that Harris had downplayed her Black heritage.
Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, has long self-identified as both Black and Asian. She attended a traditionally Black university, where she joined a prominent Black sorority. Trump, speaking at the same stadium where Harris held a rally on Tuesday, said on Saturday that Harris was a “lunatic” with a “low IQ.”
The former president pointed out how Biden and Harris “destroyed” the United States with high inflation, rising crime and millions of illegal aliens entering the country, calling them the “worst” leaders the country has seen.
