Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci suggested Saturday that it could be a “catastrophe” if former President Trump doesn’t debate Vice President Harris before November.
Harris, who officially accepted the Democratic nomination for the presidential election this fall on Friday, is pressuring Trump to host an ABC News-hosted debate with Biden, who dropped out of the race last month, as originally scheduled for Sept. 10.
Asked for his opinion on the issue on CNN Newsroom, Scaramucci said the exchange was “typical” of Trump but predicted he would “100%” debate Harris.
“There will be negotiations. It probably won’t be at Fox News. It probably won’t be at ABC News. But they’ll pick a venue, they’ll have a debate,” he told Weekend Show host Jessica Dean on Saturday. “So this is a facade on his part, an attention-grabber.”
“It’s difficult for him, but he’s been fighting for attention for the last three weeks,” he continued, adding, “If he doesn’t debate the vice president, it would be a disaster for him.”
The former president backed away from the original debate date and proposed September 4 as an alternative. Written later on Friday He said in an online post that he would agree to an early debate with Harris, but only if it would be broadcast on Fox News.
“This debate was previously scheduled to take place against Sleepy Biden on ABC but was canceled due to a conflict of interest arising from Biden’s withdrawal and my ongoing lawsuit against the ABC network and George Slopadopolos,” the former president wrote on Truth Social.
Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler previously said in a statement to The Hill that Harris plans to attend the ABC debate on September 10 even if Trump does not attend.
“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.”
Scaramucci said Trump knew if he didn’t debate Harris he would be “on the receiving end of constant criticism” from her and her running mate for weeks.
Trump argued earlier this week that a debate with Harris was unnecessary because of his lead in the polls – a stance he took during the Republican primary when he decided not to take part in a debate.
“Yeah, I would love to. And the polls show we still have a pretty big lead,” Trump said, pointing to the turmoil after Biden dropped out of the race last month. “I think she’s better than him, but ultimately she’s worse than him.”
Harris’ campaign responded to the backlash, portraying Republican candidates as “too scared” to take on Harris.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign.
