NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump said Friday that his campaign has accepted an invitation from Fox News for his yet-to-be-chosen running mate to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, and he urged her to accept as well. Harris has even said she will debate, but on a rival network.
President Joe BidenTrump’s campaign indicated it would reject Trump’s offer, an official pointing to the acceptable debate parameters it had outlined earlier this week. Under these circumstances, a Fox News-hosted debate would not qualify.
Republican Trump’s post on his social media network came after Democrat Harris accepted another invitation from CBS News.
Public intervention in debates continues after the two presumptive presidential candidates agreed this week to meet twice this summer, bypassing the committee that has organized debates since 1988. The first will be hosted by CNN on June 27, the second by ABC on September 27. 10.
Fox News said in a statement that it offered to host a VP debate on July 23, August 13 or the day after both party conventions. Harris’ team previously told CBS that she would debate in the studio on the dates Fox mentioned in July or August.
Trump said in his post that he hoped Harris and his eventual running mate would meet at Virginia State University, where Fox proposed holding the event.
The university was originally scheduled to host a debate by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, and it would have been the first time a historically black college or university had hosted one.
Virginia’s two senators, Democrats Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, urged the candidates to still hold a debate at the school.
The state’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin blasted Biden — but not Trump, whom he has supported — for refusing to participate in the presidential debate committee showdown, saying it was a “huge insult” to the school and the citizens of Virginia.
Trump has not yet chosen his running mate. He said in a recent interview that he may announce his choice at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which starts July 15.
Trump has pressed Biden to debate for months, even placing an empty second lectern on the stage at some of his rallies as a symbolic offering to the president. In a separate post Friday, he said he had accepted an invitation to another additional debate hosted by NBC and Telemundo, after previously committing to another invitation from Fox News for a debate in October.
Biden’s campaign on Friday referred to an earlier statement in which Chairman Jen O’Malley accused Dillon Trump of having “a long history of playing games with debates: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, backing out at the last minute, or not.” not appear at all.”
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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.
