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NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump seems to be backing away from his earlier commitment to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, questioning the value of a meetup and saying he “probably” will debate but he “can also make a case for not doing it” — prompting her campaign to say he's “scared.”
Trump, in an interview with Fox News Channel that aired Monday night, was pressed several times about committing to debating Harris before giving a squishier answer than he had in recent days.
The Republican former president had been willing to debate President Joe Biden when Biden was the Democratic nominee after months of suggesting that the president was not mentally up for the matchup — or the presidency. But after Biden dropped out of the race and Harris became poised to be the Democratic presidential candidate, Trump has been questioning the terms of the original debate he agreed to with Biden. He has suggested the Sept. 10 debate on ABC News should be moved to a different network, calling ABC “fake news.”
Last week, in a phone call with reporters, Trump was asked if he'd commit to debating Harris at least once. He responded: “Oh, yes, absolutely. I'd want to," and he said there was an obligation to debate.
In the interview Monday, host Laura Ingraham repeatedly pressed Trump on whether he would commit to a debate.
"I want to do a debate. But I also can say this. Everybody knows who I am. And now people know who she is," Trump said.
Trump eventually said, “The answer is yes, I'll probably end up debating."
He went on for a minute, saying any debates need to be held before early voting starts in states, and then he added, “The answer is yes, but I can also make a case for not doing it."
Trump has skipped debates before, including all the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates. He initially didn't participate after suggesting the timing was too early and then questioning the venue of another before eventually making it clear he would not participate in any of those debates.
Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa accused Trump of continuing to dodge a face-off with his likely opponent.
“It’s clear from tonight’s question-dodging: He’s scared he’ll have to defend his running mate’s weird attacks on women or his own calls to end elections in America in a debate against the vice president,” Moussa said.
The Republican candidate also sought in the interview Monday to clarify comments he made last week at a conservative event in which he told an audience of Christians that they “won’t have to vote anymore” after he's elected.
He urged Christians, who he claims don’t vote in high numbers, to vote “just this time," and said, “You won’t have to do it anymore.”
In four years, he said: “It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians."
He added moments later: “In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.”
The comments drew alarm from Democrats and others who noted Trump's pattern of using authoritarian language, his earlier comments that he would only be a dictator on “day one” and his behavior after losing the 2020 presidential election, in which he refused to accept the results and sought to overturn them.
Trump's campaign and supporters offered various explanations for his comments, and Ingraham prodded him to explain what he meant.
“They don't vote, and I’m explaining that to 'em. ‘You never vote.’ This time, vote. I’ll straighten out the country. You won’t have to vote anymore. I won't need your vote," Trump said.
Ingraham asked if he meant Christians won't need to vote for him because he will only have four years in office.
Trump started his answer by speaking about voting rates of Christians and gun owners, and Ingraham interrupted to ask him again.
“Don’t worry about the future. Vote, on, you have to vote on November 5th. After that, you don’t have to worry about voting anymore. I don’t care because we're going to fix up — the country will be fixed and we won’t even need your vote anymore because, frankly, we will have such love. If you don’t want to vote anymore, that’s OK,” Trump said.
Trump made similar comments last month at another Christian-focused event, in which he lamented the voting rates of Christians and implored them to participate in the election.
“In four years, you don’t have to vote, OK? In four years, don’t vote. I don’t care," he said.
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Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licón in West Palm Beach, Fla., contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.