Donald Trump Backs Out of ABC Debate — But Agrees to Face Kamala Harris on Fox News With ‘Full Arena Audience’
Donald Trump pulls out of a scheduled ABC presidential debate.
Aug. 3 2024, Published 1:30 p.m. ET
Former President Donald Trump has backed out of his agreement to a debate on ABC, shifting gears to challenge Vice President Kamala Harris to debate on Fox News instead.
Donald Trump said he'd always made his opinions apparent in a 'forceful' way.
The unexpected move was announced on social media on Friday, August 2, with Trump declaring, "I have agreed with Fox News to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th."
In a late-night post on Truth Social, Trump explained his decision to back out of the ABC debate, claiming it was "terminated" because President Joe Biden would no longer participate.
He cited ongoing litigation against ABC Network and George Stephanopoulos, alleging his reputation was tarnished by reports related to a lawsuit in which he was found civilly liable for sexual assault.
In a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said he has agreed to debates hosted by Fox, NBC and ABC.
Trump told his 7 million followers on Truth Social: "The Fox News Debate will be held in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at a site in an area to be determined. The Moderators of the Debate will be Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, and the Rules will be similar to the Rules of my Debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his Party – BUT WITH A FULL ARENA AUDIENCE!"
He followed up his post by going after the Democrats uniting behind Harris as their presumptive nominee. He wrote: "As everyone knows, the Democrats have Unconstitutionally taken a Candidate, who was acknowledged to be defeated, and unceremoniously replaced him with a new Candidate. This has never been done before, and is a Threat to Democracy, but I am totally prepared to accept the results of this 'coup,' and replace Joe on the Debate stage with Crazy Kamala Harris."
Vice President Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Trump went on to falsely claim the replacement of Biden with Harris was "unconstitutional".
Despite the controversy, Trump expressed readiness to face Harris on the debate stage, highlighting his commitment to allegedly "reveal" the Democrats' policies.
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Trump had previously agreed to debate Biden any place and any time, and the Biden campaign appeared to take advantage of this by setting specific terms that appealed to them.
The first debate went so poorly for President Biden that it ultimately led to him dropping out of the 2024 presidential race amid intense pressure from Democratic leaders and poor polling.
In response to Trump's move, Fox News had previously offered to host a debate between Trump and Harris on September 17, expressing willingness to adjust to the changing dynamics of the race and proposing Pennsylvania as the debate location.
