Vice President Harris’ campaign has stepped up its attacks on former President Trump, accusing him of backtracking during the upcoming presidential debate.
In a statement first released to The Hill, campaign communications director Michael Tyler said Harris plans to appear at the ABC debate on Sept. 10, as previously agreed upon by Trump and Biden, regardless of whether the former president attends.
“As VP Harris said last week, the American people have a right to hear from the two candidates vying for the highest office in the land, and she will do so at the ABC debate in September,” Tyler said. “If Donald Trump and his team are saying anything other than ‘see you later,’ and it appears they are, that’s a convenient, but predictable, line from the Trump campaign. VP Harris is scheduled to appear at the debate on September 10th, but we’ll see if Trump shows up.”
Jason Miller, senior adviser to President Trump, Sunday He told MSNBC “Of course” Trump would debate Democratic candidates, but Democrats “still need to choose who their final nominee is and that needs to be formalized before all the debates are finalized,” he said.
MSNBC host Chris Jansing fired back at Miller, saying Trump agreed to the debate before the Republican nominee was officially decided. Miller responded that Democrats needed to “secure” Harris.
Harris said last week she was “ready to go” to the debates, then backtracked after Trump indicated he didn’t want to take part in the ABC debates. Her campaign also accused Trump of being “afraid” of the debates.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he would “absolutely” debate Harris, but suggested he might not attend the ABC event. Trump’s campaign said Thursday that he would not agree to a general election debate with Harris until the Democrats have formally decided on their nominee.
Harris has secured enough delegate support to be the Democratic candidate and is expected to be officially nominated by a roll call vote as early as Thursday.
