Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio on Saturday called former President Trump’s offer to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Fox News in September a “masterpiece.”
“I think it’s a wonderful thing,” Trump’s vice presidential pick said on SiriusXM’s “Breitbart News Saturday.” “In some ways, this is a masterpiece, because, of course, the Kamala campaign has long argued that President Trump is afraid of debating Kamala Harris, which of course is ridiculous, because the last time President Trump debated their candidate, that candidate dropped out after two weeks.
President Biden withdrew from the race last month and endorsed Harris as his nominee after her weak performance in a late June debate raised concerns among Democrats.
Late Friday night, Trump posted on Truth Social, “I have reached an agreement with Fox News to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th. The debate was previously scheduled with Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC but has been canceled due to a conflict of interest arising from Biden’s withdrawal from the program and my ongoing lawsuit against ABC Network and George Slopadopolos.”
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“The Fox News Debate will be in Pennsylvania at a location to be determined. The debate will be hosted by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, the rules will be similar to those for the much-maligned Sleepy Joe debate, but in a sold-out arena!”
Sen. J.D. Vance on Saturday called former President Trump’s offer to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Fox News in September a “masterpiece.” (Joe Raedl/Getty Images)
Trump and Biden were originally scheduled to debate on September 10 on ABC.
Vance said Trump had “fairly” stated about the previously scheduled debate that “I’m not going to have a debate before the Democratic National Convention because I might change the nominee again.”
The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to take place from August 19th to 22nd.
The Ohio senator added that Trump is “launching the gauntlet of, ‘I was going to go on CNN,’ and CNN has been more hostile to Trump than any network has been to Kamala Harris. He’s saying, ‘Kamala Harris, why don’t you come on and debate?'”
“Matt, what we’ve learned about Kamala these last four years is that she’s incredibly bad when she’s not following a script, right?”
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Harris on Saturday fired back at Trump’s suggestion for a new debate on X, writing, “Interesting how ‘anytime, anywhere’ becomes ‘specific time, specific safe location.’ I will be there on September 10th as Mr. Trump agreed to and hope to see him there.” (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
Vance added that the final reason he thinks it’s “very smart” for the president to invite an audience to the debates is because “he really nourishes from human beings, and that’s natural and normal for a political leader.”
“Obviously you want to lead people, but in order to lead people, you have to like people and relate to them,” he said. “So I think it’s really important that he got to this debate because it shows his natural leadership ability. And it also shows, frankly, that people are tired of Kamala Harris. So I think it’s a good thing. Hopefully it happens and Kamala Harris agrees to it. If she doesn’t, then obviously it’s her who is afraid of the debates.”
President Biden abandoned his bid for reelection following his poor performance in the debate with former President Trump on June 27. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Harris pushed back against Trump’s offer to hold a new debate on Saturday, writing, “Interesting how ‘anytime, anywhere’ becomes ‘a specific time, specific safe location.’ As Mr. Trump has agreed, I will be there on September 10th and hope to see Mr. Trump there.”
Trump had called on Biden to debate “anywhere, anytime” in the spring.
“Donald Trump is running scared, trying to flee the debate he already agreed to and going straight to Fox News for help,” Michael Tyler, communications director for the Harris campaign, told Fox News Digital. “Trump needs to stop maneuvering and show up to the debate he already committed to on September 10th.”
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Tyler said Harris would attend the previously scheduled ABC debate anyway “for the opportunity to speak to a prime-time national audience. I’m open to discussing further debates after the one the sides have already agreed to. If Harris isn’t too scared to appear on the 10th, then Harris, who is anywhere, anytime, should have no problem with that.”
