STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.
Did former President Donald Trump state that he won't debate Vice President Kamala Harris in a presidential candidate debate? No, that's not true: Trump said the opposite, that he wants to debate Harris. Harris is the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee for president.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Threads on July 23, 2024. The post's caption read:
Trump has announced he won't debate Kamala Harris. Is he afraid of her?
This is what the post looked like on Threads at the time of writing:
(Source: Threads screenshot taken on Thu Jul 25 14:05:35 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on Google, visible here, that found no credible documents or reporting to confirm the claim. In a press call held on July 23, 2024, organized by the Republican National Committee, Trump said that although he only agreed to debate President Joe Biden, who has dropped out of the race, he wants to debate Harris. Trump can be heard making the assertion in audio from the call that was posted by Forbes Breaking News on July 23, 2024. His remark can be heard at the 19:23-mark of the video. Additionally, articles published by The New York Times (archived here), Politico (archived here) and NBC News (archived here), all on July 23, 2024, reported that during the RNC call, Trump said he wants to debate Harris.
In an email sent to Lead Stories on July 25, 2024, Taylor Rogers, press assistant at the RNC, cited another moment during the press call when Trump expressed that he would debate Harris. When asked by Fox News journalist Bill Melugin whether Trump would commit to debating Harris at least once if she were named the Democratic nominee, Trump responded (transcription from Rogers): "Oh yes, absolutely. I'd want to. I think it's important....I would be willing to do more than one debate actually." The question and answer can be found at the 13:54-mark in the Forbes Breaking News video that features the audio from the call.
Trump, however, is not a fan of the debate being hosted and broadcasted via ABC News on September 10, 2024. In a Truth Social post (archived here) on July 21, 2024, Trump said he would prefer if the debate -- no matter the Democratic candidate -- were "held on FoxNews [sic], rather than very biased ABC." Fox News reported (archived here) that its leadership sent formal letters to both the Trump and Harris campaigns to propose a Fox News-hosted debate on September 17, 2024, in Pennsylvania.
Lead Stories has debunked several claims on social media related to Trump and Harris.
Updates:
-
2024-07-26T16:06:20Z 2024-07-26T16:06:20Z Added response from Taylor Rogers, press assistant at the RNC.
