Trump campaign burns Biden over VP debate, implying he may not head the ticket
WASHINGTON – Ouch!
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slapped President Joe Biden’s re-election team on Wednesday over questions about the timing for a debate between the candidates’ vice-presidential nominees.
Vice President Kamala Harris has already accepted three potential dates for a debate with Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. In late May, Harris accepted an invitation by CBS News to debate on either July 23 or Aug. 13. She accepted a third potential date – Aug. 12 – on Wednesday.
The Trump-Vance campaign has yet to commit to any vice-presidential debate.
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The Trump campaign suggested Wednesday its hands are tied because it doesn’t know who will be on the Democratic ticket.
“We don’t know who the Democratic nominee for vice president is going to be, so we can’t lock in a date before their convention,” said Brian Hughes, a Trump campaign senior adviser.
Citing a list of Democrats mentioned as possible candidates should there be a shakeup on the party’s ticket, Hughes said scheduling a vice-presidential debate right now would be unfair to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer – “or whoever Kamala Harris picks as her running mate.”
The reference was an obvious dig at Biden, who has faced a flurry of calls from Democrats to withdraw from the race following his disastrous debate with Trump on June 27. Rep. Adam Schiff of California on Wednesday became the most prominent Democrat so far to call for Biden’s exit.
Multiple polls show Biden losing to Trump, and some nervous Democrats want to replace him with Harris or someone else who has a better chance of winning.
The Biden-Harris campaign suggested Vance doesn’t want to debate Harris because of his comments in a recently unearthed podcast from 2022 in which he suggested he was open to a national abortion ban.
“Donald Trump is the one whose campaign said he would debate ‘anytime, anyplace’ and who picked JD Vance specifically for his debating skills,” Harris campaign spokesman Brian Fallon said. “Now suddenly right after a damning new leak showing his support for a nationwide abortion ban, Vance is backing off a debate against Vice President Harris, who has spent the last two years prosecuting the case on behalf of reproductive freedom.”
Fallon said the debate has been discussed for two months. “If JD Vance is unwilling to defend the Trump-Vance record on the debate stage, he should just say so,” he said.
Contributing: Francesca Chambers
Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X @mcollinsNEWS.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump team burns Biden over VP debate, asking who will be on ticket
