Republican nominee Donald Trump accused Vice President Kamala Harris of trying to escape presidential debates during a Wednesday appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

Trump committed to debating Harris with Fox News moderators on September 4 rather than on ABC News, leading Harris to accuse him of attempting to back out of a debate. The former president told the “Fox & Friends” co-hosts that he is willing to debate Harris to expose her ahead of the 2024 election.

“I think debates are very important and I think she’ll be exposed, just like [President Joe] Biden was exposed. Nobody knew Biden was that bad and then he was exposed during the debate and they tried to have a series of comebacks after that and they didn’t work out too well and they viciously overthrew him. I mean, he was overthrown using every trick in the book, they overthrew him,” Trump said.

‘She Will Be Exposed’: Trump Accuses Kamala Harris Of Trying To Escape Debates pic.twitter.com/C6iTHNxwQI

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 7, 2024

The former president initially was scheduled to debate President Joe Biden on ABC in the second week of September but has expressed concerns about the debate being moderated by ABC News hosts. Trump refuted the Harris campaign’s accusation that he is “running scared” from the debate by relying on Fox News to “bail him out.”

“She doesn’t want to debate, look, she doesn’t want to debate. She wants to say I don’t want to debate, but I do want to debate,” Trump continued. “You know, when it came to Biden, I accepted everything, I accepted Jake Tapper, I accepted everything because he didn’t want to debate after I accepted everything. The only thing I said, let’s stand up, they wanted to sit down and I said that’s not gonna look so great. But I accepted everything and pretty much that’s the way I do it right now because I want to debate her. I think it’s important for the country that we debate.”

Harris challenged Trump to a debate during a July 30 campaign event in Atlanta, Georgia, where she called on the former president to criticize her “to [her] face.”

“So here’s the thing. Here’s the funny thing about that,” Harris said. “So he won’t debate, but he and his running mate sure seem to have a lot to say about me … And by the way, don’t you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird? Well, Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. Because as the saying goes, ‘If you got something to say, say it to my face!’”

Trump also told the “Fox & Friends” co-hosts that he raised the question of whether it would be a conflict for ABC’s George Stephanopoulos to moderate a debate during his current defamation legal battle against the ABC host. The former president filed a lawsuit on March 19 alleging Stephanopoulos intentionally made the false claim during a March 10 interview with Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace that Trump was found “liable for rape.”

Biden’s performance during the June 27 debate caused many prominent Democrats to publicly call on the president to drop out of the race due to their skepticism that he had the ability to defeat Trump. The president announced on July 21 that he dropped out of the 2024 race and endorsed Harris.

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