Former President Trump says he’s open to debating Vice President Harris more than once as they face off in the 2024 presidential election.
“Absolutely. I’d want to. I think it’s important,” Trump said Tuesday when Fox News asked Bill Melugin on a conference call with reporters if he would commit to debating Harris at least once. “I would be willing to do more than one debate.”
Minutes later, Trump added, “I haven’t agreed to anything. I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden.”
In a blockbuster announcement Sunday, President Biden suspended his 2024 re-election rematch with Trump and endorsed his vice president. The move by Biden ignited a surge of endorsements by Democrat governors, senators, House members, and other party leaders backing Harris to succeed Biden as the party’s 2024 standard-bearer.
Biden suspended his campaign amid mounting pressure from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out after a disastrous performance in last month’s first presidential debate with Trump. The 81-year-old president’s uneven delivery and awkward answers during the first 20 minutes of the debate in front of a national audience quickly prompted questions about his mental and physical ability to serve another four years in the White House.
Harris announced Monday night that she’d secured the nomination by landing commitments of backing from most of the nearly 4,000 delegates to next month’s Democratic National Convention, which kicks off Aug. 19 in Chicago.
Trump told reporters that debating Harris instead of Biden “will be no different because they have the same policies.”
The former president, who skipped out on the GOP presidential primary debates with his Republican challengers, said, “I think debating is important for a presidential race. I do. If you’re the Democrat nominee or the Republican nominee, you must debate. I think it’s essential.”
Trump, in comments with reporters on a call where he amplified his criticism of Harris on the crucial issue of border security, once again aimed at ABC News, which was scheduled to host the second debate between Biden and Trump in early September.
“I’m not thrilled about ABC because they’re truly fake news,” Trump said. He noted that “I have at least equal say regarding the next presidential debate. And I don’t like the idea of ABC.”
Trump had previously agreed to have ABC News host a second debate between him and Biden.
