Fact-checking the July 23 claim that Trump said he would not debate Kamala Harris

UPDATE, July 26, 2024: After we published this fact-check, former President Donald Trump’s campaign released a July 25 statement saying it would not agree to another debate "until Democrats formally decide on their nominee." We have updated the fact-check’s headline in light of this development. PolitiFact rates statements based on the information known at the time the statement is made. 

Grab your popcorn: Former President Donald Trump said he’d be willing to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, despite social media claims that he wouldn’t.

A July 23 Threads post included side-by-side photos of Harris and Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, with the caption, "Trump has announced he won’t debate Kamala Harris. Is he afraid of her?"

Social media users on both sides of the aisle responded to the post as if it were true. 

"He knows he can't debate her. She'd rip him apart," one user commented.  

"It’s not worth his time. Tulsi destroyed her the last time," another wrote, referring to Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic representative for Hawaii who ran for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and debated other candidates seeking the position, including Harris.

The Threads post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.) 

 (Screenshot from Threads)

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The claim isn’t accurate.On a July 23 call with reporters hosted by the Republican National Committee, Trump said he’d be "absolutely" willing to debate Harris "multiple times."

"I think if you’re … the Democratic nominee or Republican nominee, you really have an obligation to debate," he said.

In May, Trump agreed to a June debate with Biden, hosted by CNN, and a subsequent debate scheduled for Sept. 10, which ABC News was to host.

During the call, Trump said he may not want ABC to host a future debate with Harris.

"I don’t like the idea of ABC," he said.

Trump echoed the sentiment on Truth Social, arguing that any upcoming debates should be hosted by Fox News.

"Now that Joe has, not surprisingly, has quit the race, I think the Debate, with whomever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on FoxNews, rather than very biased ABC," he posted July 21.

Although Trump has reservations about ABC, he sounded enthusiastic about sharing the debate stage with Harris. We rate the claim he announced he won’t debate Harris False.