Harris campaign hits Trump again over debate 'backtrack'

Vice President Harris’s campaign is doubling down on its attacks against former President Trump, accusing him of backtracking on the next presidential debate.

Campaign communications director Michael Tyler said, in a statement first shared with The Hill, that Harris will be at ABC’s Sept. 10 debate — to which Trump and President Biden had both previously agreed — regardless of the former president’s attendance.

“As Vice President Harris said last week, the American people deserve to hear from the two candidates running for the highest office in the land and she will do that at September’s ABC debate,” Tyler said. “If Donald Trump and his team are saying anything other than ‘we’ll see you there,’ — and it appears that they are — it’s a convenient, but expected backtrack from Team Trump. Vice President Harris will be there on September 10th — we’ll see if Trump shows.”

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller on Sunday told MSNBC that “of course” Trump will debate the Democratic nominee, but that Democrats “need to pick who their ultimate nominee is going to be, that needs to be formalized before we go and lock in all the debates.”

MSNBC host Chris Jansing pushed back at Miller, saying Trump agreed to debates before the GOP nominee was formalized. Miller replied that Democrats need to “lock in” Harris.

Harris said last week she’s “ready to go” for a debate and accused Trump of backpedaling after he has suggested he may not want to participate in the established ABC debate. Her campaign also cast Trump as “scared” to have the debate.

Trump told reporters Tuesday he would “absolutely” debate Harris but signaled he may not be willing to participate in the ABC event. His campaign said Thursday it would not agree to a general election debate with Harris until Democrats formally decide on their nominee.

Harris has secured the support of enough delegates to be the likely nominee for Democrats, and the party is expected to officially nominate her through a roll call vote as early as Thursday.