Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will meet in Philadelphia Tuesday night for perhaps their only debate ahead of the 2024 presidential election in November.
The event will offer Americans their most detailed look at a campaign that’s dramatically changed since the last debate in June between President Joe Biden and Trump.
Some people on social media claim tonight’s debate will be the first time Harris and Trump meet face-to-face. But is that true?
THE QUESTION
Will the debate be the first time Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet face-to-face?
THE SOURCES
- Jimmy Kimmel Live interview with Vice President Kamala Harris
- Transcript of CNN interview with Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz
- Piers Morgan Uncensored interview with Corey Lewandowski, former Trump campaign manager and senior advisor, and Tim Miller, an American political consultant, political commentator and writer
- Photos and reporting from the 2017 and 2021 inaugurations
THE ANSWER
Yes, the debate will be the first time Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet face-to-face.
WHAT WE FOUND
Tuesday night’s debate will be the first time Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet face-to-face.
In June, Harris confirmed that she has never met Trump in person during an interview with late night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“Have you ever met Donald Trump?” Kimmel asked.
“No,” Harris responded.
Harris also acknowledged that the debate will be their first time meeting in an Aug. 29 interview with CNN’s Dana Bash.
“Speaking of Republicans, I want to ask you about your opponent, Donald Trump … people might be surprised to hear that you have never interacted with him, met him face-to-face,” Bash said.
Harris nodded and said, “Mmhmm.”
Although Harris and Trump have been in national politics for the last decade, they have only been in the same room on a few occasions — when she was a senator and he was president, according to Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager and senior advisor.
“What’s amazing is that these two individuals have never met …. I think the only time they’ve ever been in the same room is when she attended the State of the Union speeches that he delivered when he was the president,” Lewandowski said during a Sept. 5 interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
The two normally would have met face-to-face at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021.
Typically, during the ceremonial transfer of power, the outgoing and incoming president and vice president greet each other. For example, former President Barack Obama and Biden both attended Trump’s inauguration in 2017 and were photographed with Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. But Trump, who refused to concede after losing the 2020 presidential election, skipped Biden’s inauguration.
VERIFY reached out to the Harris and Trump campaigns for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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