Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
An Aug. 20 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes a screenshot of former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post about a Sept. 4 Fox News debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. In it he says Harris won’t be doing a Fox News debate on Sept. 4.
“Cackling Kamala has backed out of the debate with President Donald J. Trump,” reads the caption on the post.
The post was shared more than 900 times in three days. Other versions of the claim spread widely on X, formerly Twitter.
More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page
Characterizing Harris as “backing out” from the debate is inaccurate. Trump proposed Sept. 4 as a date for a debate with Harris, but the vice president never publicly agreed to it. She can’t “back out” if she was never in.
Trump’s Aug. 19 Truth Social post said Harris had “just informed us that she will NOT do the FoxNews Debate on September 4.”
Trump suggested that date and network instead of a previously scheduled Sept. 10 debate on ABC News because of what he called a “conflict of interest” with the network given his ongoing litigation against it.
But Harris never publicly agreed to a Sept. 4 debate, as reported by USA TODAY.
“It’s interesting how ‘any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space,’” Harris said in an Aug. 3 X post responding to Trump’s proposal. “I’ll be there on September 10, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there.”
Fact check: Supposed Harris pledge to harm ‘Trumpers,’ ignore Constitution is fabricated
Fox News also referred to Sept. 4 as a “proposed” date for a debate between the two candidates and not an agreed-upon one.
Both candidates have committed to the Sept. 10 debate on ABC.
USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims surrounding presidential debates, including false assertions that President Joe Biden demanded he “not have to stand” during his June debate with Trump and that Biden fell asleep during the event.
USA TODAY reached out to the Harris campaign, Fox News and users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Trump spokesman Stephen Cheung responded but did not answer USA TODAY’s questions.
Snopes also debunked the claim.
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.
USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.