Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate August 8, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida.
Joe Raedle |
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have agreed to a debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10, both presidential candidates said Thursday.
At a press conference, Trump said he had also signed up for two more debates: one to be hosted by Fox News on September 4 and the other by NBC News on September 25.
Harris, the Democratic candidate, later told reporters: “I'm happy to have this conversation about another debate or after September 10th. [on ABC News]secure.”
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks to members of the media before boarding Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, USA, August 7, 2024.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
“I've always been clear: I look forward to debating with Donald Trump, and we have a date of September 10,” Harris previously told NBC News at a campaign rally with the United Auto Workers union in Wayne, Michigan.
Republican candidate Trump said at the press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida: “I think it's very important to have debates.”
Trump said CBS News would host a vice presidential debate between his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, and Harris' running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Fox had previously agreed to host a debate between Trump and Harris on September 4.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate August 8, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida.
Joe Raedle |
NBC has proposed several possible dates for a presidential debate to both campaign teams, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Trump's campaign has agreed to Sept. 25, but the Harris campaign has not yet agreed to that date, the person said.
Trump's announcement of three possible debates with Harris was a departure from his promise last week not to participate in a debate on ABC, which Trump claimed at the time created a “conflict of interest” in his pending defamation lawsuit against the network.
Harris had since mocked Trump for refusing to participate in the ABC debate, which was originally scheduled for September 10 as the date for a debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the election last month.
Trump's informal press conference on Thursday, which lasted about an hour, came amid growing momentum for Harris and Walz's campaign platform.
In recent days, Trump's campaign team has put pressure on Harris and Walz to answer questions from the media – and at the same time put pressure on the media to demand the same from the Democrats. Trump accused the vice president of avoiding reporters' questions.
“She has not given an interview, she cannot give an interview, she is hardly competent,” Trump said on Thursday.
Harris has largely avoided the press since Biden withdrew his candidacy for re-election and endorsed her as his successor last month.
Harris and Walz began their first campaign tour through the swing states on Tuesday without holding press conferences.
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Harris campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said Thursday that Trump was “throwing tantrums” because the former president was not getting the attention he “craves.”
“Trump has no vision, he has no solutions and he is waging a campaign of revenge and retaliation to push through his 'Project 2025' agenda and make people's lives worse,” Moussa said.
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