Trump proposes alternative election debate, Harris says no

By Gram Slattery, Timothy Gardner and Surbhi Misra

ATLANTA (Reuters) -Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proposed to debate Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris on Fox News on Sept. 4, but the Harris campaign countered that Trump was trying to back out of a debate that had already been set to run on ABC. 

The rules would be similar to the first debate with President Joe Biden, who has since dropped his reelection bid, Trump said in a post on Truth Social late on Friday. But this time it would have a "full arena audience" and take place in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Trump said.

Trump and Biden had agreed to a second debate on Sept. 10 on ABC News, which the former president had suggested should be moved to Fox, the most popular network with his followers.

Harris, who on Friday secured the delegate votes needed to clinch the Democratic nomination for the Nov. 5 election, said on Saturday she plans to participate in the originally planned debate. 

"It's interesting how 'any time, any place' becomes 'one specific time, one specific safe space,'" she wrote on social media platform X. "I'll be there on Sept. 10, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there."  

Harris spokesperson Michael Tyler said Trump was "running scared" and that her campaign was happy to discuss further debates after the Sept. 10 one that "both campaigns have already agreed to."

On Saturday, Trump said on Truth Social that Harris is "afraid to do it" and that he will see her on Sept. 4, "or, I won't see her at all."

Both candidates have been crisscrossing the country aggressively, with Trump trying out fresh lines of attack against Harris, who some polls show is in a virtual dead heat with the former president.

At a rally in Atlanta on Saturday night, Trump attacked Harris' character and the policies she has promoted as vice president, and he continued to raise questions about her racial identity.

On Thursday, Trump had falsely suggested to the country's largest annual gathering of Black journalists that Harris had downplayed her Black heritage. Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, has long self-identified as both Black and Asian. She attended a traditionally Black university, where she joined a prominent Black sorority.

Trump, speaking at the same stadium where Harris held a rally on Tuesday, said on Saturday that there were "19 different ways" of pronouncing Harris' first name, while also calling her a "lunatic" with a "low IQ." Before Trump took the stage, his campaign displayed an article on a large screen referring to Harris as the "first Indian-American senator."

The former president also dedicated much of his speech to attacking Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, and the state's Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger. Both men drew Trump's wrath for failing to overturn Trump's election loss to Biden in Georgia in 2020.

Trump's combative performance contrasts with the advice of some senior Republicans who have called on him to avoid attacks on Harris' identity and friendly fire directed at conservatives.

Following Trump's speech, the Harris campaign released a statement by Geoff Duncan, the Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia from 2019 to 2023 and a vocal Trump critic.

"If you were able to see through Donald Trump's incoherence and vindictiveness tonight, you saw a Donald Trump who does not care about uniting this country or speaking to the voters who will decide this election," Duncan said.

DEBATE 'TERMINATED'?

In his Friday post on Truth Social, Trump said the ABC debate had been "terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant" and because he himself was in litigation with ABC. 

ABC on July 26 outlined qualification requirements for the debate but did not mention any candidates by name. Those requirements include proving polling support and state ballot access by Sept. 3.

Recent polls show a tight contest between Harris and Trump, who had opened a clear lead over Biden after the president's fumbling, halting performance first debate.

ABC News had no comment about Trump's statement, a spokesperson said. Fox News did not respond to a request for comment. 

Trump's proposal for the debate on Fox came right after the Democratic National Committee launched an advertising campaign taunting him by saying "the convicted felon is afraid to debate" and questioning whether that is due to his stance on abortion.

David Plouffe, an adviser to former President Barack Obama who recently joined the Harris campaign, posted on social media: "Now, he seems only comfortable in a cocoon, asking his happy place Fox to host a Trump rally and call it a debate. Maybe he can only handle debating someone his own age." 

Trump is 78, and Harris is 59.

(Reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru, Timothy Gardner, Makini Brice and Timothy Reid in Washington, and Gram Slattery in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly, Jarrett Renshaw and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Diane Craft, Matthew Lewis and William Mallard)