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Trump Agrees to Fox News Offer of Debate with Harris on Sept. 4

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 31: Former President Donald Trump walks off stage at a campaign appearance on July 31, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 31: Former President Donald Trump walks off stage at a campaign appearance on July 31, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP
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Trump Agrees to Fox News Offer of Debate with Harris on Sept. 4

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 31: Former President Donald Trump walks off stage at a campaign appearance on July 31, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 31: Former President Donald Trump walks off stage at a campaign appearance on July 31, 2024 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has agreed to an offer from Fox News to hold a debate with Democratic US Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 4, he said in a post on Truth Social late on Friday.

"Rules will be similar to the rules of my debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his party, but with a full arena audience," Trump said, referring to President Joe Biden, who has since dropped his reelection bid.

According to Reuters, the post was removed for a few minutes before being reposted, with Trump deleting his proposal for a "major" town hall gathering on the same date if Harris was "unwilling or unable to debate".

Harris had responded last month that she was "ready" after Fox News proposed the presidential debate between the two candidates on Sept. 17.

After Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 and backed Harris, Trump said he would not debate her because she was not the official candidate.

As proof of her lack of support, he added that former President Barack Obama had yet to endorse her. But Obama did so a day later, and on Friday, she secured the delegate votes needed to clinch the Democratic nomination.

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Biden, Trump Security Advisers Meet to Pass Ceremonial Baton

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
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Biden, Trump Security Advisers Meet to Pass Ceremonial Baton

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (L) hands a baton to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an event at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2025. (AFP)

Top advisers to US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump put aside their differences - mostly - for a symbolic "passing of the torch" event focused on national security issues on Tuesday.

Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan passed a ceremonial baton to US Congressman Mike Waltz, Trump's pick for the same job, in a revival of a Washington ritual organized by the nonpartisan United States Institute of Peace since 2001.

The two men are normally in the media defending their bosses' opposing views on Ukraine, the Middle East and China.

On Tuesday, Waltz and Sullivan politely searched for common ground on a panel designed to project the continuity of power in the United States.

"It's like a very strange, slightly awkward version of 'The Dating Game,' you know the old game where you wrote down your answer, and that person wrote down their answer, and you see how much they match up," said Sullivan.

The event offered a preview of what may be in store on Monday when Trump is inaugurated as president. This peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of more than two centuries of American democracy, comes four years after Trump disputed and never conceded his loss in the 2020 election.

This time the two sides are talking. Sullivan, at Biden's request, has briefed Waltz privately, at length, on the current administration's policy around the world even as the Trump aide has regularly said the new team will depart radically from it.

Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden's envoy Brett McGurk are working together this week to close a ceasefire deal in the region for hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

Asked about the key challenges facing the new administration, Waltz and Sullivan on Tuesday both pointed to the California wildfires and China.

Sullivan also highlighted a hostage deal and artificial intelligence as key issues.

Waltz pointed to the US border with Mexico, an area where Trump has ripped Biden's approach.

But he credited the Biden administration with deepening ties between US allies in Asia.

For all the bonhomie between the two men, and the talk of the prospects for peace in the Middle East, Waltz painted a picture of the grimmer decisions awaiting him in his new job.

"Evil does exist," he said. "Sometimes you just have to put bombs on foreheads."