Trump campaign says it won’t commit to Harris debate until she’s confirmed as nominee

CNN —

After Vice President Kamala Harris accused former President Donald Trump of “backpedaling” on a debate, the Trump campaign said Thursday it would not commit to any future debates until the Democratic Party formally chooses a nominee.

President Joe Biden’s decision to step down from the Democratic ticket on Sunday threw previous debate plans into doubt. While the Biden and Trump campaigns had agreed to a debate hosted by ABC on September 10, it is unclear if it will go on as planned.

“I have agreed to the previously agreed upon September 10th debate, he agreed to that previously,” Harris told reporters after landing at Joint Base Andrews Thursday. “Now it appears he’s backpedaling. But I’m ready. And I think that the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage and so, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign communications director, said in a statement late Thursday that it “would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds,” since Harris is only the party’s presumptive nominee.

Harris quickly hit back on social media. “What happened to ‘any time, any place’?” she said in a post on X.

Democratic delegates are expected to vote virtually to confirm Harris as the party’s nominee by August 7. Trump, for his part, officially clinched the Republican nomination last week at the Republican National Convention.

Trump told reporters earlier this week he wants to debate Harris but has not yet agreed to anything.

“I haven’t agreed to anything. I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden,” Trump said on a press call. “But I want to debate with her, and she’ll be no different because they have the same