Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump walks off stage after speaking at a campaign rally at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20, 2024.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would be willing to debate Vice President Kamala Harris multiple times if she is nominated, as expected, by the Democratic National Convention as the party’s presidential candidate.
“I would be willing to do more than one debate, actually,” Trump said on a call with reporters, two days after President Joe Biden in a stunning move dropped out of the election contest and endorsed Harris as his replacement atop the Democratic ticket.
“Yes, absolutely, I’d want to” debate Harris, the Republican nominee said.
“I think if you’re in the Democratic nominee or Republican nominee, you really have an obligation to debate,” he said.
“So, it’s very important,” said Trump, who was formally nominated last week, two days after narrowly avoiding being killed in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania.
Trump previously debated Biden on June 27 when the president was the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Biden’s dismal performance in that showdown immediately raised questions about his mental acuity and ability to beat Trump. The debate quickly sparked calls for Biden to step aside and allow another Democratic nominee to take his place.
Trump in May had agreed to the June debate with Biden, which was hosted by CNN, and to a second debate to be held Sept. 10, which would have been hosted by ABC News.
On Tuesday, Trump suggested that any debate with Harris would not be hosted by ABC.
“I’m not thrilled about ABC because [of] fake news I watched last night,” Trump said. “They’re actually trying to make a hero out of Joe Biden when he was the worst president in history, and they were doing things like with Kamala, like what a wonderful thing that she is running.”
“I don’t like the idea of ABC.”
Trump also said he expected that his debate against Harris would have the same result as his debate against Biden.
“I want to debate her and she’ll be no different because they have the same policies,” Trump said.
Trump said he would not have picked a different running mate other than Sen. JD Vance of Ohio if he had known Biden would be dropping out.
