Donald Trump says he has agreed with Fox News to a debate with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in September.
“If for any reason Kamala is unwilling or unable to debate on that date, I have agreed with Fox to do a major Town Hall on the same September 4th evening,” Trump posted on his Truth social media platform on Saturday.
Trump said the debate would take place in Pennsylvania and the rules would be similar to but with a full arena audience.
His announcement came after Harris, the US vice president, secured the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination on Friday (local time) two weeks after
Harris has yet to respond to Trump, but last week said she was “ready to go” for a debate with the former US leader and the Republican’s presidential nominee for the November election.
Trump and had agreed to another to be broadcast on the US’ ABC network on 10 September.
When Biden dropped his presidential bid, Trump said he would “absolutely” debate Harris but left the door open to dropping out of the ABC debate saying he was “not thrilled” with the network and labeled it “fake news”.
Harris then accused him of “backpedaling”.
Kalama Harris ‘honoured’ after securing nomination
Harris was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates. She is the first Black and South Asian woman to ever secure a major party’s nomination. She will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month.
She said on a phone-in to a party celebration she was “honoured” to have amassed the required support by the second day of the marathon virtual vote and declared: “We are going to win this election”.
“And it is going to take all of us … We are going to talk with people about the fact that we are all in this together, and we stand together,” Harris said.
In the two weeks since Biden ended his reelection bid, Harris has gained full control of the party, smashing fundraising records, packing arenas, and erasing the polling leads Trump had built over the president.
Two decades younger than 78-year-old Trump, the Vice-President has made a fast start, raising US$310 million ($476 million) in July, according to her campaign — more than double Trump’s haul.
“I couldn’t be prouder,” Biden posted on X following her nomination.
The nomination milestone came with Harris preparing to hit the campaign trail new week for a swing across seven crucial election states alongside her yet-to-be-named running mate.
Harris and her running mate are scheduled to rally Tuesday in Pennsylvania — a crucial swing state, where Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro is on the shortlist to join Harris’ ticket.
She will also tour the more racially diverse Sun Belt and southern states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina as she seeks to shore up the Black and Hispanic vote.
While Biden made high-minded appeals for a return to civility and the preservation of democracy, Harris has focused on the future, making voters’ hard-fought “freedom” the touchstone of her campaign.
She and her allies have also been more aggressive than the Biden camp — mocking Trump for reneging on his commitment to a September debate and characterising the convicted felon as an elderly crook and “weird.”
Meanwhile, Trump and his Republicans have struggled to adapt to their new adversary or hone their attacks against Harris — at first messaging that she was dangerously liberal on immigration and crime before pivoting to falsely accusing her of pretending to be Black for political purposes.
