Kamala Harris, Donald Trump spar over debate dates

WASHINGTON

Kamala Harris's campaign branded Donald Trump "scared" on Aug. 3 after he proposed changing the debate schedule.

Trump said he was willing to debate Harris on Fox News network on Sept. 4, while declining to participate in a previously scheduled debate on ABC.

Trump pitched the idea on his Truth Social media platform before flying to Atlanta on Aug. 3 and gathering supporters in the same arena where his White House rival had addressed an energized crowd of some 10,000 on July 30.

The former president repeatedly attacked Harris and unleashed his extreme scaremongering on illegal immigration, falsely claiming there is a flood of murderers from around the world.

As for debating Harris, Trump said he had "agreed" to the plan with Fox. And he said it would occur in Pennsylvania before a live audience.

"We're doing one with Fox, if she shows up," Trump told his Atlanta rally. "I don't think she's going to show up. She can't talk."

The Harris campaign dismissed Trump's idea as "games."

"Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out," Harris's campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement. "He needs to... show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10."

Trump's proposal to confront Harris on Fox, a network that has long supported him, was his latest effort to recapture momentum in a campaign that had been focused on a rematch against Joe Biden, until the 81-year-old dramatically dropped his reelection bid last month.

Since then Harris, 59, has reenergized the Democratic base.