Former President Trump and President Biden quickly came to terms on two presidential debates during a Wednesday whirlwind. But the campaigns don’t seem to be on the page about the vice presidential contest, or additional debates.
In two posts to Truth Social on Friday, Trump said he had agreed to a debate on Fox “on behalf of the future Vice President of the United States,” as well as a fourth debate against Biden on NBC and Telemundo.
The Biden-Harris campaign earlier this week said it had agreed to a vice presidential debate on CBS and that Biden would not participate in additional debates beyond the two planned with CNN in June and ABC in September — also nixing a third debate Trump agreed to on Fox News.
Trump said Friday the Fox vice presidential debate would “hopefully” be held at Virginia State University, a historically Black university. “I urge Vice President Kamala Harris to agree to this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” he wrote.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier said Friday on “The Story with Martha MacCallum” that the outlet had put out a request to host a vice presidential debate either July 23, Aug. 13 or following both party conventions. The Democratic convention wraps up Aug. 22, while the Republican convention is in July.
The Biden-Harris campaign said Thursday it had agreed to a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS either July 23 or Aug. 13.
“We look forward to the Trump campaign accepting one of these dates so that the full debate calendar for this campaign can be set,” the Biden-Harris campaign said.
Trump also posted Friday that he had “accepted a fourth Presidential Debate against Crooked Joe Biden, this time with NBC & Telemundo.”
“It is important as Republicans that we WIN with our Great Hispanic Community, who Biden has devastated with Crippling Inflation, High Gas Prices, Crime in our Streets, and Border Chaos,” the former president said in the post.
“These are the Debates that Voters have been asking for, and these are the Debates that Voters will get!” he said of the five debates — four presidential and one vice presidential — he has now proposed.
The Hill has reached out to NBC News, Telemundo, the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign for further comment.
A Biden campaign official shut down the talk of additional debates in a comment to NBC News.
“The debate about debates is over,” the official reportedly said. “No more games.”