The change, which Trump announced on his social media site, Truth Social, also raised objections from the Harris campaign and appeared to throw a potential showdown between the rivals into question.
A campaign official for Harris on Saturday accused Trump of scheming up the Fox News debate to distract from reneging on his commitment to the ABC debate. Trump had agreed to that debate in May, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
“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,” Michael Tyler, communications director for the Harris campaign, said. “He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10.”
Tyler said that the Harris campaign was open to discussing further debates if Trump honored his commitment to the ABC debate.
A spokesperson for ABC News would not say whether the network would go ahead with its debate and give time only to Harris, reported NYT.
Harris took a direct jab at Trump, questioning his sudden change of plans. “It’s interesting how ‘any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space,’” Harris remarked. She reaffirmed her commitment to the scheduled debate, adding, “I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there.”
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. Representatives for Fox News did not respond to questions.
According to Trump’s post on his social media site, the Fox News debate would take place on Sept 4 at a to-be-determined location in Pennsylvania. The network’s anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum would moderate.
Trump said on social media that the Fox News debate would have a live audience; the previous debate between him and Biden was hosted by CNN in an empty venue. Although both campaigns agreed to the format of the first debate, Trump had bemoaned the lack of a crowd.
Source : Times of India
