(Headline USA) Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested former President Donald Trump might skip his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday because of “cowardice,” Fox News reported.
During a Texas Tribune event, Pelosi was asked what advice she has for Trump ahead of his face-off against Harris.
Pelosi initially joked that she and Trump were “close,” but then asked, “Do you think he’s going to show up?”
Left-wing interviewer Kara Swisher responded, “I do. Do you know something I don’t know?”
Pelosi then hedged, answering, “I know cowardice when I see it.”
Trump has given no indication in the past several days that he planned to skip Tuesday’s debate, though he has raised concerns about the host network, ABC News, given its coverage’s bias against him.
Trump recently sued the network and its star pundit, George Stephanopoulos, for making a defamatory claim that the former president had committed rape. He also notably sparred with another ABC reporter, Rachel Scott, for conducting a hostile interview when he agreed to address a convention for black journalists in July.
In a statement, the Trump campaign dismissed Pelosi’s accusation as misinformation.
“Nancy Pelosi has no idea what she is talking about and has been proven to be a liar and fraud,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung.
“If she isn’t busy giving herself fake titles to make herself feel better, she’s peddling fake news because it’s the only thing she’s ever done,” Cheung added, referring to a comment Pelosi made earlier in her conversation with Swisher about how she still demands people refer to her as “Speaker,” despite the fact that she is no longer the House Speaker.
Harris’s allies have been downplaying expectations for her performance against Trump ahead of Tuesday’s debate. An anonymous Harris campaign staffer even claimed Harris will be at a “disadvantage” compared to Trump because of the debate rules, which include muted mics and no notes.
Harris’s team tried to change the debate rules at the last minute, but their requests were denied by ABC News.
In a statement, Harris’s campaign said she only agreed to the rules because Trump “is a risk to skip the debate altogether … if we do not accede to his preferred format.”
The format was initially dictated by the Biden campaign and was the only way Trump could get the 81-year-old incumbent on the stage.
While many feared it would be an ambush, the move proved to be strategically shrewd on Trump’s part, as Biden’s poor performance brought his declining mental acuity to the forefront, ultimately forcing him out of the race.
Trump, for his part, indicated he was open to having the mics on. He said he looked forward to debating Harris as an opportunity to “expose” her to the public.
