Philly is not yet confirmed to be the site of the first presidential debate, despite Donald Trump’s comments
The former president says that Independence Hall will be the site of the first confirmed presidential debate, but ABC News says they have yet to establish a location for the event.
Former President Donald Trump said over the weekend that the Sept. 10 presidential debate hosted by ABC would take place at Independence Hall. But that’s yet to be established by the network.
ABC said Sunday that the location and venue — which will be the first time Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump go head-to-head on the presidential debate stage — has not yet been confirmed.
Independence National Park did not immediately return a request for comment.
Trump’s decision to ultimately agree to debate Harris on Sept. 10 on ABC turned into something of a saga. The former president initially pulled out of the ABC debate, claiming that the event was moot since it was originally scheduled with then-Democratic nominee President Joe Biden as his opponent. Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June led to the downfall of his reelection bid, resulting in Harris’ ascension as the nominee.
Trump said in a post on the social media platform Truth Social that the debate was “terminated” because of Biden’s campaign suspension. He then, instead, proposed to debate Harris on Sept. 4 in Pennsylvania on Fox News with a full audience. Fox News suggested a debate to both candidates on Sept. 17 in Pennsylvania.
“I’ll see her on September 4th, or I won’t see her at all,” Trump said in an Aug. 3 Truth Social post.
Eventually, after much holdout and taunting from the Harris campaign, Trump recommitted to the Sept. 10 debate during a falsehood-riddled news conference last week at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida golf club and residence. He also continued to promote the Sept. 4 Fox News debate, and proposed another: Sept. 25 on NBC.
The Harris campaign told ABC News last week she would not debate Trump on Sept. 4 on Fox and any future debates are contingent on the former president showing up to the Sept. 10 event, adding that she’s willing to discuss future debates.
Trump also said participating in an ABC debate would be a “conflict of interest” while the former president has ongoing litigation against ABC News and George Stephanopoulos over the anchor’s characterization of the the jury’s decision in the civil case involving E. Jean Carroll. Trump conceded on Fox & Friends last week that the lawsuit would not prevent him from appearing on ABC because World News Tonight anchor David Muir and ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis would be moderating the debate.
When asked by pool reporters on Thursday why she thought Trump originally backed out of the ABC debate, Harris responded: “I am beyond trying to speculate about how he thinks.”
Staff Writer Maddie Hanna contributed reporting to this article.