Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took turns insulting each other on Saturday after weeks of arguing about when and where they would debate.
The former president has refused to participate in a debate previously scheduled for September 10, hosted by ABC News, and has instead sought to pressure Harris, the de facto Democratic presidential nominee. to accept an earlier debate in a completely different setting on the Trump-friendly channel Fox News.
On Friday, Trump announced on Truth Social that he had agreed with Fox News to host a debate against Harris on September 4 with Fox News moderators and a full audience.
The Harris team mocked Trump on Saturday for reneging on his promise to participate in the ABC News debate.
“Donald Trump is scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and is running straight to Fox News to bail him out,” Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said in a statement Saturday.
Trump called the ongoing legal battle with ABC News a “conflict of interest.” Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on September 10th. The vice president will be there one way or another and will take advantage of the opportunity to speak to a national audience in prime time,” Tyler said.
Trump later fired back in several messages on Truth Social, calling Harris a “low IQ person.”
“Kamala Harris does not have the mental capacity to fight a REAL debate against me scheduled for September 4th in Pennsylvania,” Trump wrote in another Truth Social post. “I will see her on September 4th, or I will not see her at all.”
President Joe Biden and Trump agreed to two debates on mutual terms in May, one hosted by CNN on June 27 and the second hosted by ABC News on September 10. Although Biden has since dropped out of the race due to his disastrous performance at the June debate, the Harris team insisted that the terms of the May deal still stand.
Days after Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, Trump said he was willing to debate the vice president several times. As Harris rose in the polls and raised record donations, Trump repeatedly went back on his original agreement with May and toyed with the idea of skipping the debates altogether.
The Harris team has stated that the vice president will appear at the debate on September 10, whether Trump is there or not.
“It's interesting how 'anytime, any place' becomes 'a specific time, a specific safe place,'” Harris wrote in an X-post on Saturday, reinforcing his statement. “I will be there on September 10th, as he agreed. I hope to see him there.”
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