Trump calls news conference at Mar-a-Lago, proposes debates with Kamala Harris as Democrat rises in polls
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday proposed a series of three debates with Kamala Harris in September, as he seeks to stem a sharp rise in support for the Democratic candidate.
Addressing a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort home, Trump said he had agreed to two additional debates on Sept. 4 on Fox and Sept. 25 on NBC.
The Harris campaign has only agreed to one clash, on Sept. 10 on ABC and the network said Thursday that Trump has also agreed to that one.
“The other side has to agree (but) I’d like to have three debates,” Trump said.
With Harris and newly minted vice presidential pick barnstorming battleground states, Trump summoned a group of reporters to the resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump presided over a freewheeling session with reporters touching on the campaign, abortion and his claim that Harris somehow cheated her way into the Democratic nomination.
He claimed without offering any evidence that President Joe Biden is “very angry” at his decision to step down from the race and hand the baton to Harris.
“He had the right to run and they took it away,” Trump said. “He’s a very angry man right now. He’s not happy with any of the people who forced him out.”
“He had a rough debate but you don’t just take it away from him,” Trump added.
On abortion, Trump again dodged question about how he will vote on Florida’s referendum to restore abortion rights, which polls say has overwhelming support.
Even before the press conference, Trump had showed signs that Harris is starting to get under his skin.
“If Kamala has 1,000 people at a rally, the press goes “crazy,” and talks about how “big” it was,” Trump said. “When I have a rally, and 100,000 people show up … they refuse to mention crowd size.”
Trump Wednesday softened his ultimatum that Harris agree to participate in a debate on Fox News and suggested he is open to negotiations over the details of a clash with the Democratic standard bearer.
Trump has taken the week off the campaign trail, only planning a single event in Montana, a reliably Republican state, on Friday. Instead he’s left it to his controversial vice presidential pick, JD Vance, to shadow the Democratic ticket as they hopscotch across the swing states that will likely determine the winner of the November election.
Trump praised Vance, saying he has “really stepped up” and is “doing a fantastic job,” shooting down rumors that he was considering booting Vance off the ticket.
The last time Trump vowed to hold a press conference was on May 31, after his conviction on 34 felony counts in the Manhattan hush money case.
After summoning reporters to the lobby of Trump Tower, he gave a rambling speech denouncing the verdict and left without responding to shouted questions.
Harris has come under criticism for declining to hold any press conferences or a sit-down interview since she took over the Democratic presidential ticket. She does speak to reporters off the record during campaign trips.
“I don’t think she’s smart enough to have a press conference,” Trump said.
Trump insiders say the former president may have called the press conference to recapture the attention of the media, which has mostly ignored him and focused on Harris as she launches her inspirational bid to become the first Black woman president.
Stephanie Grisham, a former Trump spokeswoman turned critic, said calling the press conference suggests Trump is “panicking” over the rise of Harris, who took the baton when President Biden stepped down from the race.
“He thinks his team is failing him & no one can speak better/”save” his campaign/defend him but him,” Grisham tweeted. “He hates the coverage Harris is getting & thinks only he can fix it.”
Harris now leads in most polling averages and grabbed a healthy 50%-42% advantage over Trump among likely voters in a Marquette University Law School survey released late Wednesday.
Trump has been searching in vain for an effective message to attack Harris since she launched her campaign last month.
He made the false claim that Harris only recently identified as a Black person in a stormy sit-down with reporters at the National Association of Black Journalists.
Trump then posted the far-fetched claim that Biden was considering jumping back into the race.
Trump is reportedly pointing fingers at aides over his dip in fortunes, which ended a seemingly unending streak of good news for him, including surviving assassination and presiding over a unified Republican National Convention.
“We’ve hit a few speed bumps,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) conceded to The Washington Post. “There’s been a rough spot.”
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