Vice President Kamala Harris said that she’s “ready” to debate former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, and accused him of “backpedaling” to avoid a previously scheduled debate set for September 10 hosted by ABC.
Hours later, Trump's campaign said it would not commit to any further debates, saying that "general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee."
"Given the continued political chaos surrounding" the Democratic nominee, Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement, "it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds."
Harris quickly fired back on social media: "What happened to 'any time, any place'?"
Earlier Thursday, Harris told reporters she's “ready to debate Donald Trump," adding that she "agreed to the previously agreed upon Sept. 10 debate. He agreed to that previously.”
“Now, here he is backpedaling, and I’m ready, and I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage, and so I’m ready,” she continued. “Let’s go.”
Harris appeared to be responding to comments that Trump made on a press call earlier this week, during which he said he would be willing to debate the vice president multiple times, but indicated that he’s not a fan of the host network.
“Absolutely, I’d want to. I think it’s important” to debate Harris, Trump said. “I’m not thrilled about ABC because they're truly fake news … They're actually trying to make a hero out of Joe Biden, when he was the worst president in history, and they were doing things with Kamala, like, ‘what a wonderful thing it is that she is running.’”
“I have at least equal say and I don't like the idea of ABC. I would be willing to do more than one debate, actually,” he added.
Trump went on to say he believes “if you're the Democrat nominee or the Republican nominee, you really have an obligation to debate” and that it’s “important” to do so in a two-party system, but that he agreed to the debate on ABC when Biden was the candidate and now would prefer a change of host. He previously suggested Fox News, the friendlier right-wing network.
On Wednesday, Fox invited Harris and Trump to debate on Sept. 17, and proposed hosting it in swing state Pennsylvania, moderated by anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
Neither campaign commented on the proposal.
Trump and Biden initially agreed to two debates. The first debate, hosted last month by CNN in Atlanta, brought about the beginning of the end for Biden’s campaign. His performance — marked by a soft, hoarse voice and meandering answers — ignited concern from within his own party about his age and fitness to lead the country and calls for him to step aside.
Biden did so on Sunday, backing Harris to take his place. In the days since, she garnered enough support from Democratic delegates to secure the nomination, in addition to receiving record fundraising and accolades from nearly every power player in the party.
Harris had also agreed to a vice presidential debate, set to be hosted by CBS News, but no date was set for that. With Harris not naming a running mate yet, that debate is in apparently in limbo.