OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A senior adviser to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign said earlier this week that he believes Vice President Kamala Harris is angling for a way out of her Sept. 10 ABC debate with the former president, the only one she has indicated she would participate in.
“I think that the Harris campaign is looking for an escape hatch, is looking for a way to get out of this debate,” said Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller on “Sunday Morning Futures” on the Fox News Channel. “To be clear, these are the rules that the Democrats wrote. These are the rules we had in place for the CNN debate. Everyone had agreed to the rules, at least informally, with ABC. We have a deal with ABC. ABC has a deal, and ABC is with us all the way on this.”
“But here’s what I think happened. I think the Harris folks started going into debate prep, and now they realize what they’re working with. They realize that they’re in real trouble with Kamala Harris. They also know that President Trump is the greatest debater in modern political history, so I think they’re nervous and want a way out,” he further speculated.
Fox News host Sean Duffy, a former GOP congressman from Wisconsin, asked Miller: “So is your point that Kamala Harris’ team has not confirmed the September 10th debate?”
“Absolutely not,” Miller responded. “And it’s mind-boggling because you would think that they’d want to debate. I mean, the American public does deserve this. But they refuse to accept the terms of the debate which, again, everyone had already agreed to it.
“We’d agreed to it, ABC’s agreed to it. The rules are the rules, they’re not changing.” He added: “But Kamala Harris and her campaign, they’re afraid,” Miller went on. “Think about it for a moment, Sean. Why did the they wait 39 days to even do this joint interview where Kamala Harris spoke for all of 16 minutes and 29 seconds and now this is day 42 that Kamala Harris has gone without doing a solo interview?”
Miller added: “This is really bizarre. I think they’re afraid, and they don’t want to put Kamala Harris out there. You want to know why? Because she’s going to have to answer for every bit of this last three and a half years. You can’t talk about turning the page when you’re the one who broke the economy, broke the border, broke the world. That’s on Kamala, and she’s going to have to account for that on the debate stage.”
WATCH:
‘Mind-boggling’: Trump adviser Jason Miller says #Kamala campaign ‘looking for escape hatch to get out of this #debate‘
‘President #Trump is the greatest debater in modern political history, so I think they’re nervous and want a way out’ pic.twitter.com/Wvsv84EF8O
— WorldNetDaily (@worldnetdaily) September 1, 2024
Harris has not done a formal solo press conference in the nearly 45 days since President Joe Biden announced he would not seek reelection, and now she’s being criticized for what some are labeling a press “avoidance tactic.”
Harris was seen exiting a government vehicle wearing an earpiece that was attached to her cellphone — indicating that she may have been listening to something — as she made her way to Air Force Two en route to a campaign event in Detroit, Mich., this week. She briefly waved at reporters before boarding her plane.
WATCH:
Kamala Harris departs Joint Base Andrews, headed to Detroit, Michigan pic.twitter.com/QQY9UiXlQL
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) September 2, 2024
The optics left some to speculate that Harris was simply using another “tactic” to avoid having to answer questions from the media.
“Wow. She’s pretending to be on the phone … It’s an avoidance tactic,” one X user wrote.
“‘Remember to pretend to be on the phone as to avoid talking to anyone, and keep it moving,’” another X user quipped.
Harris finally sat down for an interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash, which aired on Thursday. But it wasn’t live, appeared to be heavily edited, and she showed up with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who has been credibly accused of lying about much of his political and military careers.
