Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to three potential dates for a vice presidential debate against Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). CBS News is set to host the debate.
The Biden-Harris campaign released the following statement.
On May 16, Vice President Harris accepted the very first invitation we received from a television network to host a Vice Presidential Debate. She agreed at that time to participate in a CBS-hosted debate on either Tuesday, July 23 or Tuesday, August 13. “Since then, CBS has offered – and the VP has accepted – another potential date for this debate: Monday, August 12.
Since then, CBS has offered – and the VP has accepted – another potential date for this debate: Monday, August 12.
Now that the Trump campaign has selected a running mate, we encourage them to agree to a debate between Vice President Harris and Senator Vance.
According to CBS News, Harris and Vance spoke on Tuesday, discussing the generalities of debating. In May, before selecting his running mate, Trump indicated that his campaign had agreed to a vice presidential debate, but it would be one hosted by Fox News. The Biden campaign has outlined its debate criteria for this cycle, excluding both Fox News and MSNBC, because — well, obviously.
At the time of the CBS News report, the Trump campaign had not responded to a request for comment, but the Trump campaign has since responded in a statement received by PJ Media. And the response is hilarious.
“We don’t know who the Democrat nominee for Vice President is going to be, so we can’t lock in a date before their convention," Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Brian Hughes said. "To do so would be unfair to Gavin Newsom, JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, or whoever Kamala Harris picks as her running mate.”
(pause for laughter)
What a classic response.
While the Biden campaign has been defiant about staying in the race, the calls for him to drop out continue. On Wednesday, top House Democrat Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) publicly called on Joe Biden to drop out of the race.
"A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November," Schiff said.
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Despite the increased calls for Biden to drop out, there's little the Democratic Party can do to make it happen unless Biden agrees to do it.
Biden did say in a new interview with BET, "If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem…" that he would drop out.
This could be Biden setting up a more dignified exit from the race, or it could be part of Biden's scheme to justify staying in the race. Earlier this month, it was reported that the White House physician Kevin O’Connor, whose absurdly optimistic health reports about Joe have come under scrutiny, is a family ally and former business associate of Joe Biden's brother. Those ties raised questions about his professional objectivity. Joe Biden also clearly is not taking advice from anyone but those inside his inner circle — all of whom have a vested interest in Joe Biden staying in the race.
I'd be willing to bet the Trump campaign's response will infuriate the Biden campaign and further harden their resolve to keep Biden in the race.
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