Former President Donald Trump has finally agreed to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, but only on friendly territory.
Trump announced the potential debate, which would take place on September 4 and be hosted by Fox News, on his social media network, Truth Social. Trump said the debate would take place in Pennsylvania and Fox hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum would moderate it.
Trump said in the post that the debate would replace a previously scheduled debate with President Joe Biden on ABC News on September 10.
Since Biden left the race and Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee, the vice president has repeatedly challenged Trump to commit to the originally scheduled debate on ABC.
The Harris campaign raised objections to the proposed new debate and accused Trump of “running scared” and backing out of the already scheduled ABC debate.
“I’ll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there,” Harris said on X in response to Trump’s announcement.
In the Truth Social post, Trump said that his pending lawsuit against the ABC Network and host George Stephanopoulos created a “conflict of interest,” though he had previously agreed to debate Biden on the network.
Trump filed a lawsuit against ABC earlier this year, accusing Stephanopoulos of defamation related to a March 10 broadcast in which the host said Trump had “raped” E. Jean Carroll, a former advice columnist, according to The New York Times.
A jury found that Trump sexually abused Carroll and awarded her a sum of $2 million in damages in 2023. The jury did not find Trump liable for the specific charge of rape.
