Trump Campaign Is Refusing to Agree to a VP Debate Because ‘We Don’t Know’ the Democratic Nominee Yet

Phillip NietoJul 17th, 2024, 5:44 pm
 
Kamala Harris Accepts Invite to VP Debate

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

After picking his new vice presidential nominee, Donald Trump’s campaign is refusing to agree to a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris agreed to three potential dates – July 23rd, Aug. 12, and Aug. 13 – for a debate with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) to be hosted by CBS News. Vance, the freshman senator and author of Hillbilly Elegy, was picked by Trump as his VP nominee after top-level Silicon Valley executives urged the former president to do so behind closed doors.

However, the Trump campaign announced in a statement on Wednesday that it will not commit to a debate with Harris because they “don’t know” if President Joe Biden will be the Democratic nominee.

“We don’t know who the Democrat nominee for Vice President is going to be, so we can’t lock in a date before their convention. To do so would be unfair to Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, or whoever Kamala Harris picks as her running mate,” said Trump campaign senior advisor Brian Hughes in a statement.

The dig references the recent push by Democratic lawmakers to urge Biden to bow out of the November election before the convention following his poor debate performance against Trump.

Last month, Biden struggled at CNN’s debate to answer the moderator’s questions coherently and had a raspy voice. Since then, a number of Biden allies have pressured the president to step aside while campaign donors have been withholding money.

Pundits have suggested that if Biden drops out, then Newsom, Pritzker, Whitmer, and Harris would be the top choices to replace him at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket.

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