Trump warms to debate in original ABC News format: ‘We’ll be debating her’

Former President Donald Trump expressed more of a willingness to debate Vice President Kamala Harris on the originally proposed date than he has in recent days.

When President Joe Biden was still in the race, he and Trump were set to debate on ABC News on Sept. 10. Since Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee, the former president has all but backed out of the agreed-upon debate.

Speaking Wednesday on Fox News, Trump appeared more willing to go through with the debate as planned.

“I don’t know how she debates,” Trump said. “I hear she’s sort of a nasty person but not a good debater, but we’ll see because we’ll be debating her, I guess, in the pretty near future. It’s going to be announced fairly soon, but we’ll be debating her.

“I’d like to see it on Fox, by the way,” Trump continued. “My preference would be Fox, but we have to debate.”

Trump tried to move the debate to Fox News on Sept. 4, but the Harris campaign declined the invitation. The vice president has agreed to the scheduled ABC News debate.

As of Wednesday, Trump seemed warmer to the idea of keeping the original debate than he did over the weekend.

“I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all,” the former president posted Saturday on his Truth Social, later saying at one of his campaign rallies “We’re doing one with Fox, if she shows up.”

When asked by the Fox hosts if his campaign was working out debate details behind the scenes, Trump said “No, but I can tell you every network loves me. They love me very much. I’ve never been so loved.

“I think debates are very important, and I think she’ll be exposed, just like Biden was exposed,” Trump said.

Trump and ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos are also in a legal battle — Trump sued Stephanopoulos and the network for defamation after the anchor said a jury concluded that the former president raped E. Jean Carroll. The jury rejected Carroll’s claim that he raped her but did find him liable for a lesser degree of sexual abuse.

When asked about a conflict of interest by appearing on ABC News despite the lawsuit, Trump said he could use that as an excuse not to debate, but it did not appear as though he would.

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Harris’s running mate, also said he would be willing to debate Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), which is set to take place on CBS News on an unknown date.

Vance said he was willing to debate Walz, but only after he becomes the Democratic vice presidential nominee. The Democratic National Convention, where Walz’s nomination will be confirmed, is in two weeks.