U.S. Republican presidential
candidate Donald Trump and
Democratic opponent Kamala Harris will
debate on Sept. 10 on ABC, setting up the first face-to-face match-up between
the rivals in what polls show is a close race.
In a news conference at his Palm
Beach, Florida, residence, Trump said he wanted additional debates on Sept. 4
and Sept. 25 that would air on Fox and NBC.
Harris said in a post on X that she
was looking forward to the Sept. 10 debate after Trump "finally
committed."
She told reporters after a
Detroit-area campaign stop that she was open to discussing more debates, but a
campaign official reiterated their position that a Sept. 4 Fox debate is off
the table.
Discussions on future debates depend
on Trump's participating in the Sept. 10 debate on ABC, the official said. The
Harris campaign had already opposed a Fox debate, saying the host network
should be one that sponsored recent primary debates by both parties.
Trump previously suggested he might
back out of the ABC debate, scheduled before Harris, the U.S. vice
president, replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential
candidate less than three weeks ago, upending the contest. The Sept. 10 debate
on ABC was to be the second of two agreed upon between Biden and Trump,
following their June 27 debate on CNN.
An Ipsos poll published on Thursday
found Harris has
widened her lead over Trump since late July. She leads Trump
42% to 37%, compared with a July 22-23 Reuters/Ipsos survey that showed her up
37% to 34% over Trump.
Thursday's Palm Beach news
conference was Trump's first public appearance since Harris selected Minnesota
Governor Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday.
Harris and Walz have headlined
rallies in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan
and Wisconsin this week, drawing tens of thousands of attendees in a fresh sign
of how her late entry into the race has galvanized Democrats. Thursday's stop
by the Democratic pair at a union hall came as the campaign said it sees labor
groups as a key to tipping the balance in the election.
Harris' rapid rise has sent Trump's
team scrambling to
recalibrate its strategy and messaging. Opinion polls show
Harris has erased the lead Trump had built over Biden, and Democrats have raked
in hundreds of millions of dollars from voters and big donors since she became
the party's candidate.
Trump insisted on Thursday he has
not altered his approach to the race. In a question-and-answer session with
reporters that stretched beyond an hour, Trump hopped from topic to topic and
said Harris and Walz are weak candidates.
Nevertheless, Trump lamented that he
isn't able to face Biden in the Nov. 5
election, suggesting the president was a victim of a plot to
dislodge him from atop the Democratic ticket.
Biden dropped his faltering
reelection bid under pressure from fellow Democrats worried about his chances
of victory after a poor debate
performance against Trump.
Asked about his controversial
comments last week that Harris, who is of Black and Indian decent, recently
"happened to turn Black," Trump said: "You'll have to ask her
that question, because she's the one that said it, I didn't say it. ... To me
it doesn't matter. But to her, from her standpoint, I think it's very
disrespectful to both, really, whether it's Indian or Black, I think it's very
disrespectful to both."
Trump's initial comments, delivered
to an audience of Black journalists, drew widespread condemnation and left donors
and aides baffled and alarmed. The Trump campaign didn't immediately
comment further to provide evidence of remarks by Harris that Trump said he was
referring to.
Trump on Thursday also mocked the
size of Harris' campaign crowds, even though they have matched his of late. He
falsely claimed the size of the crowd he addressed on Jan. 6, 2021 – the day
his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol – was as large as those who packed the
National Mall in Washington for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream"
speech in 1963.
"We actually had more
people," Trump said. "But I'm ok with it, because I liked Dr. Martin
Luther King."
King delivered his speech to an
estimated 250,000 people in August 1963, according to the National Constitution
Center. Trump's rally on Jan. 6, 2021, drew about 53,000 supporters, according
to the House of Representatives Select Committee's "187 minutes of dereliction" report, opens new tab.
Echoing a recent attack line from
his campaign, Trump criticized Harris for not doing a press interview since
launching her campaign.
"She can't do an interview.
She's barely competent," Trump said, later again calling her
"nasty," a go-to line that he often uses to disparage female critics.
Trump has conducted a steady stream
of media interviews, though they are usually with friendly, right-leaning
outlets and reporters. On Wednesday, he called into the "Fox &
Friends" morning program and took questions from the program's hosts.
Trump announced the Palm Beach news
conference on Thursday morning on his social media platform. Only a select
group of reporters were given the advance notice needed to travel to his
Florida resort in time. Reuters was not extended an invitation.
Harris answered a handful of
questions from reporters after meeting with auto workers in Wayne, Michigan, on
Thursday, following the United Auto
Workers union's endorsement of her candidacy. She said she
wants to schedule a sit-down interview "before the end of the month."