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NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump said Friday his campaign has accepted an invitation from Fox News for his yet-to-be-chosen running mate to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, and he urged her to accept as well. In fact, Harris has already said she’ll debate — but on a rival network.
President Joe Biden’s campaign signaled it would reject Trump’s offer, an official pointing to the acceptable debate parameters it detailed earlier this week. Under those conditions, a Fox News-hosted debate would not qualify.
Republican Trump’s post on his social media network came after Democrat Harris accepted a different invitation from CBS News.
The public brokering of debates is continuing after the two presumptive presidential nominees this week agreed to meet twice this summer, bypassing the commission that has hosted debates since 1988. The first will be hosted by CNN on June 27, the second by ABC on Sept. 10.
Fox News said in a statement it offered to host a VP debate on July 23, August 13 or a day after both party conventions. Harris’ team previously told CBS she would debate in-studio on the July or August dates Fox mentioned.
Trump in his post said he hoped Harris and his eventual running mate would meet at Virginia State University, which is where Fox proposed holding its event.
The university was originally scheduled to host a debate put on by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, and it would have been the first time a historically Black college or university hosted one.
Virginia’s two senators, Democrats Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, urged the candidates to still hold a debate at the school.
The state’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin slammed Biden — but not Trump, whom he has endorsed — for refusing to participate in the debate commission’s presidential face-off, saying it was a “huge snub” to the school and citizens of Virginia.
Trump has not yet chosen his running mate. He said in a recent interview that he may announce his pick at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which starts July 15.
Trump for months has pressed Biden to debate, even placing an empty second lectern onstage at some of his rallies as a symbolic offer to the president. In a separate post Friday, he said he had accepted an invitation for still an additional debate, hosted by NBC and Telemundo, after previously committing to yet another invitation from Fox News for an October debate.
Biden’s campaign on Friday referred back to a previous statement in which chair Jen O’Malley Dillon accused Trump of having “a long history of playing games with debates: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, pulling out at the last minute, or not showing up at all.”
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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.
Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press
