The campaign for former US president and the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that it will not commit to vice-presidential debate dates until after the Democratic National Convention, starting August 19.
Vice President Kamala Harris had extended the debate invitation to Senator JD Vance after he was named Trump’s running mate earlier this week.
“We don’t know who the Democratic nominee for vice president is going to be, so we can’t lock in a date before their convention,” Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Brian Hughes said on Wednesday.
“To do so would be unfair to Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, or whoever Kamala Harris picks as her running mate,” he said, rejecting the offer of Harris to debate Vance.
Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director for Vice President Harris, Brian Fallon said Trump is the one whose campaign said he would debate “anytime, anyplace” and who picked Vance specifically for his debating skills.
“Now suddenly right after a damning new leak showing his support for a nationwide abortion ban, Vance is backing off a debate against Vice President Harris, who has spent the last two years prosecuting the case on behalf of reproductive freedom,” Fallon said.
“This debate has been discussed for two months now. If JD Vance is unwilling to defend the Trump-Vance record on the debate stage, he should just say so,” he said.
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