After Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called out former President Donald Trump for refusing to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert attempted to claim President Joe Biden was actually the one to drop out of the debate first—only to be swiftly fact-checked.
Biden had agreed to two debates with Trump, the second of which was scheduled for September 10 and would have been moderated by ABC News. After Biden withdrew from the election last week, effectively making Harris the Democratic nominee, Trump backed out of the debate.
In response to the news that Trump would not participate in the debate, Buttigieg observed:
"Has a presidential nominee ever agreed to a debate, then pulled out? Remarkable show of weakness here."
You can see his post below.
Boebert later responded by falsely claiming that Biden had chosen to drop out first:
"Yes, actually. Biden agreed to two and backed out of the second."
You can see her post below.
The main issue with her statement is that Biden was no longer the presumptive nominee once he withdrew. In contrast, Trump was officially named the GOP nominee two weeks ago at the Republican National Convention.
Boebert was quickly called out.
Harris has also taken aim at Trump for backing out of future debates. He announced in a statement via spokesperson Steven Cheung that the "continued political chaos surrounding Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrat Party" signal that "general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee."
Trump had previously claimed he "would debate “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE" but has reneged on that pledge now that Biden has dropped out of the race. Cheung himself said "it would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds."
In response, Harris accused Trump of "backpedaling":
“I have agreed to the previously agreed upon Sept. 10 debate. He agreed to that previously. Now, here he is backpedaling, and I’m ready, and I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on a debate stage, and so I’m ready. Let’s go.”
During a Monday night Fox News interview, Trump said he would "probably end up debating" Harris but added that he "can also make a case for not doing it.”
In response, Harris campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said Trump is "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."
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