The Trump campaign said Friday that the Kamala Harris campaign lied when it claimed the two sides reached a debate agreement a day prior.
After former President Donald Trump announced that he proposed three presidential debates, the Harris campaign released a statement Thursday claiming that Trump had “accepted our proposal for three debates — two presidential and a vice presidential debate.” National Press Secretary for the Trump campaign, Karoline Leavitt, told the Daily Caller that the statement was a lie, and the former president will be on the debate stage for his three proposed events, in addition to two VP matchups. (RELATED: ‘Dam Is Going To Break’: Trump Insiders Forecast Counterattack Against Kamala’s Basement Campaign)
Harris-Walz campaign statement on debates pic.twitter.com/2Wayy1edRT
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 15, 2024
“Let’s be clear: President Trump will be on the debate stage THREE times with Fox News, ABC and NBC/Telemundo. Likewise, Senator Vance will show up to debate Tim Walz on TWO occasions, on September 18 with CNN and October 1 with CBS. If Harris and Walz don’t show up, an empty podium can stand in their place, proving to the American people just how weak they are,” Leavitt continued.
In its Thursday statement, the Harris campaign wrote that if Trump shows up to a Sept. 10 debate, then Americans “will have another opportunity to see the vice president and Donald Trump on the debate stage in October.” Leavitt told the Caller that there has not been a proposed October debate discussed, despite the Harris campaign’s statement.
“There’s been no proposal from a network for an October debate. They’re just throwing that out there needlessly,” Leavitt told the Caller.
President Trump challenged Kamala to three debates.
She only accepted two.
J.D. Vance challenged Freakish Timothy Walz to two debates.
He only accepted one.
Just so everyone is aware which campaign in this race is “too afraid” to debate.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 15, 2024
“President Trump committed to three debates. Kamala should commit to the same three debates. We both, both campaigns, received the exact same debate invitations from those three networks,” she added.
The Harris campaign began its statement by claiming “the debate about debates is over.” Leavitt indicated that is far from the truth.
“Harris’s advisors do not trust her competence and skills to debate President Trump. So they are trying to get away with seeing how she performs on the September debate, and then maybe they’ll commit to an October debate. That’s not how this works,” Leavitt told the Caller.
“Kamala Harris is a COWARD. She refuses to do a press conference, refuses to take a sit-down interview, and refuses to accept the three debate invitations agreed to by President Trump. Harris won’t speak unscripted because she can’t defend her dangerously liberal record and failed four years in the White House,” Leavitt said.
The saga between the Trump campaign and their Democratic opponents over when and where to debate has dragged on for months.
Both sides agreed early on to abandon the typical process of working with the Commission on Presidential Debates to set up the contests, leading to the two campaigns to have to negotiate with each other, and television networks, on the time and place they would occur.
After not debating during the Republican presidential primary, Trump openly challenged President Joe Biden to debate numerous times before Biden finally accepted a matchup for June. The decision proved fatal for the Biden campaign — his performance was so widely panned that it resulted in fellow Democrats forcing him out of the presidential race.
Biden and Trump had agreed previously to a second debate in September, but once Biden was replaced with Vice President Harris, the Trump camp contended that agreement was null and void.
Since then, the two sides have been locked in a back-and-forth on how many debates there will be, which networks will host them, and when they will take place.
Part of the back-and-forth surrounded the vice presidential debates. CBS News proposed four potential dates for vice presidential debates. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz committed to an Oct. 1 debate, but Senator J.D. Vance later accepted both the Oct. 1 debate and an additional Sept. 18 debate on CNN.
The only debate both sides have locked in without a doubt is the Sept. 10 debate on ABC News. The Harris campaign seemingly wants to push the second debate to October, after which many Americans will already have been able to vote early, in some states for weeks.
