Former President Donald Trump is not convinced Vice President Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee for president and won’t finalize plans to debate her until she is, a campaign official said Thursday.
“Given the continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“There is a strong sense by many in the Democrat Party – namely Barack Hussein Obama – that Kamala Harris is a Marxist fraud who cannot beat President Trump, and they are still holding out for someone ‘better,’” he claimed.
“Therefore, it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds.”
Harris, 59, had challenged the 78-year-old former president earlier in the day to stick to the Sept. 10 debate date he had previously agreed to before President Biden dropped out of the race
“[I]t appears he is backpedaling, but I’m ready,” Harris told reporters, arguing that “voters deserve to see this split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage.”
Harris taunted Trump on X shortly after his campaign revealed its position on the upcoming debate.
“What happened to ‘any time, any place’?,” she tweeted, a reference to Trump’s eagerness earlier this year to debate Biden.
Democrats have all but crowned Harris as their nominee to replace Biden on the presidential ticket despite several polls showing that she may fare no better than the 81-year-old president against Trump in November.
Earlier this week, Harris secured the requisite amount of delegate support to be named the Democratic nominee, and the party plans to hold a virtual vote ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to make her nomination official.
She’s been endorsed by the president, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate and virtually all of the other lawmakers and governors floated as Biden replacement options.
Notably, Harris has not been endorsed by former President Barack Obama.
A source close to the Biden family told The Post earlier this week that Obama has withheld his endorsement of Harris because he doesn’t think she can defeat Trump in November.
“Obama’s very upset because he knows she can’t win,” the Biden family source said.