Date is fixed Trump now ready for TV duel against Harris after all

At first Trump was reluctant. But now he has announced: He is ready for a TV duel with Democratic presidential candidate Harris.

DPA

03.08.2024, 11:20

03.08.2024, 16:15

dpa

The Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump is ready for a TV duel with his Democratic rival Kamala Harris. "I have agreed with Fox News to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th," Trump wrote on his online platform Truth Social. Harris had already agreed to a televised debate with Trump.

Trump and President Joe Biden had originally agreed to two debates, the second of which was to take place on September 10. Biden's disastrous performance in the first TV debate on June 27 triggered the political avalanche that ultimately led to the Democrat's withdrawal from the presidential election campaign and paved the way for Harris.

Debate location not yet determined

Trump went on to write that the debate against Biden had actually been scheduled to take place on ABC. However, as Biden will no longer be taking part and he is involved in a legal dispute against ABC Network, a conflict of interest has arisen.

The Fox News debate will take place in the state of Pennsylvania at a location yet to be determined. The moderators would be Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. "The rules will be similar to the rules of my debate with Sleepy Joe, who was treated horribly by his party - BUT WITH A PUBLIC IN A FULL ARENA!"

Earlier in the week, Trump had not given a direct answer on "Fox News" to the question of whether he would be willing to have a televised debate with Harris. He would "probably" face such a duel, Trump said. But there are also arguments for not doing so.

Harris is ready

At the time, however, Harris had not yet been nominated by her party. On Friday, her party announced that she had secured the necessary majority of delegate votes for her party's presidential candidacy in an online vote.

Harris, on the other hand, had already declared her willingness to take part in the TV debate just over a week ago. "I am ready. Let's go," the 59-year-old wrote on the online platform X. The voters deserved to see both candidates on the same stage.

On July 21, incumbent Joe Biden announced that he would not be running in the US presidential election on November 5.