About five months After Donald Trump vowed on social media that he would debate “anytime, anyplace, anywhere,” the former president backed away from that promise.
“Given the ongoing political chaos surrounding Conman Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, the details of the general election debate cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee,” White House communications director Stephen Cheung said in a statement.
Cheung pointed to former President Barack Obama, who has yet to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, and claimed there is a “strong feeling” in the Democratic Party that Harris “can’t beat President Trump, and they’re still waiting for someone ‘better.’”
“Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats could easily change their minds,” Cheung wrote.
The news comes after Trump and President Joe Biden had previously agreed to hold two televised debates, one on June 27 and the other on September 10, before the first turned into a disaster as Biden's performance raised widespread skepticism among Democrats and led to calls for him to step down in favor of a younger, more capable candidate.
Amid the growing outcry, Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and, minutes later, endorsed Harris. “Today, I want to offer my full support and endorsement to Kamala to be our party’s nominee this year,” Biden wrote in a statement at the time. “Democrats — it’s time to come together and defeat Trump. Let’s do this.” His endorsement was quickly followed by other party leaders, including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Earlier this week, Harris secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become the party’s presumptive nominee for president. However, delegates to the Democratic National Convention will still be able to vote for their candidate of choice in August, and a virtual roll call will be held in which convention delegates can choose a nominee before the Chicago event.
Trump, who has previously said debates could be “run by the corrupt Democratic National Committee” when Biden faces an opponent, recently said he thinks the debate against Harris should be hosted by Fox News, rather than ABC News.
Despite his lack of enthusiasm for confronting Harris, the vice president said Thursday that she was “ready to go” in the confrontation with Trump and accused him of “backing down.”
“I agreed to the previously agreed-upon debate on September 10th,” Harris said. “He agreed to it in advance. Now, he’s backing away, and I’m ready, and I think voters deserve to see the split screen that this race has on the debate stage, so I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Shortly after the Trump campaign issued a statement withdrawing from the scheduled debate, Harris posted on X: “What happened to ‘Anytime, Anywhere’?”
