Trump Challenges Harris to 3 Network Debates

Former President Donald Trump announced three network debate dates that he agreed to, but said he’s still waiting for a response from Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago press conference Thursday that he’s agreed to debate Harris on Fox News on Sept. 4, on NBC on Sept. 10, and on ABC on Sept 25. CBS would have the vice presidential debate between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The Sept. 10 date was agreed to when President Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Harris has reportedly agreed to the Sept. 10 date.

“Those networks are very anxiously awaiting those dates. We have spoken to the heads of the networks and it has all been confirmed, other than some fairly minor details, audience, location, which city would we put it into, but all things that would be settled very easily,” Trump said.

“The other side has to agree,” Trump later said. “I don’t know that they’re going to agree. She hasn’t done an interview. She can’t do an interview. She’s barely competent.”

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to an email inquiry about whether it has agreed to the other dates. As of publication, there was nothing on her X campaign account that indicated she has accepted.

Biden dropped out of the race last month amid concerns about his mental capacity and Democrats’ concerns of whether he could win in November after a poor performance against Trump in the June 10 debate. 

Trump said that Biden was pushed out of the race. 

“I’m no Biden fan, but I’ll tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint, they took the presidency away,” Trump said. “People were saying he lost the debate. I don’t know that that is true necessarily. But whether he could win or he couldn’t win, he had the right to run. And they took it away. They said they were going to use the 25th Amendment. They were going to hit him hard. Either we can do it the nice way or do it the hard way. And he said alright. What they’ve done is pretty incredible.”

Biden has said he left the race voluntarily to pass the torch to Harris. However, a recent story by Pulizer-winning journalist Seymour Hersh said that leading Democrats threatened to forcefully remove Biden through the 25th Amendment if he did not drop out.  

Trump said he would be doing an interview show with Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. 

“Elon called me. As you know he endorsed me,” Trump told reporters  in response to a question. 

“He asked me if I would do a show, I think it’s going to be Monday night,” Trump said. “And I believe he is the host of the show. It will be very interesting. A lot of people are talking about it. I look forward to it.” 

In response to a question, Trump said there would be a peaceful transfer of power—an apparent reference to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, where rioters entered the Capitol to stop the certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory in 2020. This came after Trump alleged that the election was stolen.

“Of course there will be a peaceful transfer, and there was last time, and there will be a peaceful transfer,” Trump said. “I just hope we’re gonna have honest elections. That’s all.”

Trump said 2024 is a critical time amid a possible world war and depression. 

“Our country right now is in the most dangerous position it has ever been in from both an economic standpoint, from a safety standpoint. Both gangs on the street and frankly gangs outside of our country in the form of other countries that are very powerful,” Trump said early in the press conference. 

“You could end up in a depression of the 1929 variety,” Trump said. “We are very close to that and we are very close to a world war in my opinion. We have people who don’t know how to handle it. They are not respected. All over the world they are laughed at.”