Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci signaled Saturday that former President Trump could face “disaster” if he doesn’t debate Vice President Harris ahead of November.
Harris, who was officially nominated Friday to lead the Democratic ticket in the fall, has pressured Trump to agree to debate her on the ABC News-led Sept. 10 date he originally set with President Biden, who dropped out of the race last month.
Asked on CNN Newsroom for his opinion on the issue, Scaramucci said the back-and-forth was “typical” of Trump, but he predicted that he would “100 percent” debate Harris.
“There will be a negotiation. It’ll likely not be Fox News. It probably won’t be ABC News. But they will pick a venue, and they’ll debate,” he told weekend host Jessica Dean Saturday. “So, this is him posturing. This is him trying to get attention.”
“It’s hard for him, but he has struggled over the last three weeks to win the attention cycle,” he continued, adding that it “would be a disaster for him if he doesn’t debate the vice president.”
The former president has backed away from the original debate date, proposing Sept. 4 as an alternative, writing late Friday in a post online that he agreed to debate Harris at the earlier date, but only if it’s on Fox News.
“The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, thereby creating a conflict of interest,” the former president wrote on Truth Social.
Michael Tyler, communications director for Harris’ campaign, said in a previous statement to The Hill that Harris will attend the ABC debate on Sep. 10, even if Trump won’t.
“As Vice President Harris said last week, the American people deserve to hear from the two candidates running for the highest office in the land and she will do that at September’s ABC debate,” Tyler said. “If Donald Trump and his team are saying anything other than ‘we’ll see you there,’ — and it appears that they are — it’s a convenient, but expected backtrack from Team Trump. Vice President Harris will be there on September 10th — we’ll see if Trump shows.”
Scaramucci said Trump knows that if he doesn’t debate Harris, he will have to withstand weeks of “getting pounded by her” and her potential running mate over the decision.
Trump argued earlier this week that a debate with Harris wasn’t necessary, citing his lead in the polls. He took a similar stance during the GOP primary race when he opted to sit out of the debates.
“Well, I want to. And we’re leading in the polls it seems by quite a bit still,” Trump said, pointing to the shake-up after Biden withdrew from the race last month. “She’s better than he is, but I think ultimately she’ll be worse than him.”
Harris’s campaign responded to pushback, painting the GOP nominee as “too scared” to face her.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign.
