Trump has skipped debates before, including all the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates.
PALM BEACH, Fla: Former US president and Republican candidate for the 2024 Presidential elections Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is proposing three presidential debates with three television networks. He said that he agreed on certain dates in September while acknowledging that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign had not yet accepted those terms.
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Trump suggested there were agreements with Fox News, ABC News, and NBC News as he held a news conference at his Florida beachside compound. It was his first public appearance since Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee and selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
“I think it’s very important to have debates,” Trump said. “I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight.”
The Harris campaign had no immediate comment.
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Earlier this week, Trump hinted at an upcoming announcement regarding the presidential debate after withdrawing from a debate hosted by ABC News scheduled for September 10, following President Joe Biden’s exit from his re-election campaign. Trump expressed a preference for Fox News to sponsor the debate but showed openness to reconsidering ABC on Wednesday.
Trump also reiterated criticisms from his vice-presidential running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, about Harris not conducting a news conference or interviews since Biden’s withdrawal last month and her entry into the race.
While Harris is accompanied by a traveling press pool on all trips aboard Air Force Two, Trump does not maintain a regular traveling press pool for his campaign trips.
Vance was accompanied by journalists and campaigned this week in states where Harris and Walz also had scheduled events. This coincided on Wednesday when Vance’s aircraft and Air Force Two were both on the same tarmac in Wisconsin. Vance began walking towards the Democrats’ aircraft but was unable to reach it before a motorcade, which included Harris, Walz, and the traveling press, departed.
The ABC move by Donald Trump had cast doubts on the likelihood of the candidates meeting on stage before the November election.
Trump had posted a sequence on Truth Social platform to declare that his commitment to the September 10 debate on ABC is nullified, citing the cessation of Democratic President Joe Biden’s campaign following a poor showing in their initial debate. In a subsequent Truth Social post, Trump said of Harris, “I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all.”
Trump has skipped debates before, including all the 2024 Republican presidential primary debates.
(With AP inputs)
