Trump ducks ABC debate, proposes Fox swap
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The news: Donald Trump has withdrawn from a scheduled ABC News debate on 10 September against his presumptive Democratic opponent Kamala Harris.
The numbers: Posting on Truth Social, Trump instead proposed a debate moderated by Fox News six days earlier, a move the Harris campaign criticised as an attempt to avoid the agreed-upon debate, accusing Trump of running scared.
Trump had agreed to the televised encounter in May, before President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance on 27 June and his ensuing withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
The context: Vice President Kamala Harris secured the necessary delegate votes on Friday to win the Democratic nomination for the 5 November election. In a social media post on Saturday, she said she intends to take part in the originally scheduled debate.
Trump proposed debate on Fox will also have a "full arena audience" and take place in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where he was shot at a rally last month.
Campaign officials for Harris also said she was open to discussing further debates if Trump honoured his commitment to the ABC debate.
Later, Trump used a rally in the swing state of Georgia to attack Harris’s character, the policies she has promoted, while continuing to raise questions about her racial identity.
He also attacked Republican governor Brian Kemp, alleging Kempt and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger were obstructing his campaign efforts. "Ninety-four days from now, we're going to win the state of Georgia," Trump told the crowd. "We're going to evict this radical and incompetent administration."
The sources: Donald Trump Truth Social account , Kamala Harris X account , Reuters
