Trump says he is seeking 3 presidential debates with Harris

WASHINGTON: United States (US) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Thursday he is willing to debate his Democratic rival Kamala Harris three times in September on different networks, as he tried to win back momentum from the Democratic vice president’s newly galvanised campaign.

ABC News said on X that it would host a presidential debate on September 10 and that both Trump and Harris had agreed to participate.

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During a news conference at his Palm Beach, Florida, residence, Trump said he wanted to hold debates on September 4, September 10 and September 25, with Fox, ABC and NBC hosting one each. His campaign later clarified that he had mixed up which network would host which debate.

Trump did not detail specific terms, such as whether there would be an audience, and it was not immediately clear whether his campaign had made a proposal to Harris’ camp about the other two dates. The Harris campaign did not immediately comment on the debates.

The news conference was Trump’s first public appearance since Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday.

Harris, the U.S. vice president, 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 re-energized Democrats.

Her rapid rise has sent Trump’s team scrambling to recalibrate their strategy and messaging. Opinion polls show Harris has erased the lead Trump had built over President Joe Biden, and Democrats have raked in hundreds of millions of dollars from voters and big donors in a matter of weeks.

Biden dropped his faltering reelection bid 2-1/2 weeks ago under pressure from fellow Democrats worried about his chances of victory in the Nov. 5 election after a poor debate performance against Trump.

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Trump on Thursday mocked the size of Harris’ campaign crowds, even though they have matched his of late. “We have the enthusiasm,” he insisted. “The Republican Party has the enthusiasm.”