Washington: Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has confirmed his participation in a debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on September 4. The event will be moderated by Fox News, marking the second presidential debate of the election cycle and the first confrontation between Trump and the new Democratic candidate.
Trump announced via his social media platform that the debate will take place in Pennsylvania, a pivotal battleground state, though the exact location remains undecided. Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum are set to moderate the debate.
As of early Saturday, there was no confirmation from Vice President Kamala Harris regarding her participation or the debate’s terms. Her campaign representatives have not responded to inquiries, and Fox News has also refrained from commenting.
Trump confirmed that the debate will include a live audience, a departure from the previous debate with President Biden, which was conducted in an empty venue. Trump had criticized the lack of an audience in that debate and expressed his readiness to confront Harris, despite calling her rapid rise within the Democratic Party a “coup”. He voiced his dissatisfaction with the changes among his opponents in his debate announcement.
“I spent hundreds of millions of dollars, time, and effort fighting Joe, and when I won the debate, they threw a new candidate into the ring,” Trump posted on his social media site on Friday.
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Trump had earlier agreed to a second debate with President Biden, scheduled for September 10 and hosted by ABC. However, following Biden’s withdrawal, Trump has not confirmed whether he will participate in this debate. Vice President Harris has indicated her willingness to step in for Biden.
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“Well Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage,” Harris said at her rally in Atlanta on Tuesday. “Because as the saying goes, ‘If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.’”
