On September 10, the anticipated first debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be held. The network officially confirmed this event with an X (formerly Twitter) post after Trump stated on Thursday his desire to have several with his Democratic opponent ahead of the upcoming November election.
“We think it’s essential that three debates occur,” stated Trump, proposing more debates, to be held by Fox News and NBC. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris, attending a Michigan event on Thursday, confirmed she would be present for the ABC debate and was ready to talk more about other ones.
David Muir, anchor and managing editor of World News Tonight, and Linsey Davis, anchor of ABC News Live Prime, will respectively oversee the debates as moderators.
Harris described her excitement about the upcoming matchup with Donald Trump, for which they have already settled on September 10. “I’m glad he’s going to come,” she said at this year’s Detroit event. If he does appear, it will be Trump’s first debate since June, when he debated President Joe Biden. Biden, however, has since quit the presidential contest after being heavily criticized for his poor performance throughout this debate. That leaves Harris the Democratic nominee.
The debate confirmation clears up the uncertainty surrounding Biden’s withdrawal. Both the Trump and Harris battles are eager for the fray. Earlier, Trump stated he would prefer a Pennsylvania-based debate to be hosted by Fox News, but the location is not yet known.
The Harris campaign was adamant in its push for the debate to be held on September 10th. At his Mar-a-Lago resort a news conference on Thursday, Trump suggested two more debates: one on September 4 through Fox and another on September 25 through NBC.
Trump also mentioned that CBS will be hosting a debate for the vice-pres-election candidates Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz. Sources say NBC is contemplating a second fall debate after news conferences with both campaigns.
Fox News would send invitations to both campaigns for a debate in Pennsylvania in September. But the Harris campaign noted, “Trump has to show up” for the ABC debate before any plans are made for future debates
Trump criticized Harris’ media appetite since she became the presumptive Democratic nominee, ridiculing her competence and intelligence. She subsequently assured reporters that she had instructed her staff to set up some interview time by the end of the month.
Trump’s hour-long news conference took place as his campaign struggled increasingly against a newly etched visage of vigor from Harris’s Democratic America. Though the Harris campaign remains immersed in a close fight with Trump, national and battleground state polling reveals a slight uptick in the former prosecutor’s chances at present.
He refuted any idea that he had changed his campaign for a Harris challenge instead of Biden and seemed irritated when questioned about Harris’s rally audience sizes, saying, “Oh, give me a break,” claiming his crowds were bigger.
The news conference came just months after Trump’s last one, with his campaign, focused heavily on rallies across the nation in the interim. Trump seized the opportunity to defend his running mate JD Vance, voicing his admiration for him a few days after some unpleasant—he received some pushback for some provocative things he said in 2021 about child-free people in high places.
“JD Vance has stood tall,” Trump said. “Fantastic job, he’s done.”
He slammed Harris’s policies on immigration and the economy, adding that U.S. presidents should have a say in interest rates and monetary policy, which goes against the norm of the independent.S. Federal Reserve doing so. Trump underscored goals such as eliminating inflation, fighting crime, and rebuilding the military.
At the same time, Harris was in Detroit, addressing the United Auto Workers and thanking them for their endorsement. She rallied the union electricians, insisting, “ We have 89 days to get this done” in the lead-up to the election.