Harris campaign accepts Oct. 23 CNN debate, urging Trump to do same
Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted CNN’s invitation for an Oct. 23 presidential debate, with her campaign calling on former president Donald Trump to do the same.
“Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said Saturday in a statement. “It is the same format and setup as the CNN debate he attended and said he won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules, and ratings.”
Trump, who debated Harris on Sept. 10, has so far said he is not interested in another debate.
Trump has claimed he won the debate against Harris, though most polls show the vice president as the victor. Harris has been saying on the campaign trail that her standoff with Trump was “fun” and that he owed it to the public to face her onstage again.
“It would be unprecedented in modern history for there to just be one general election debate,” O’Malley Dillon said. “Debates offer a unique chance for voters to see the candidates side by side and take stock of their competing visions for America.”
CNN said the debate would follow the format of the June 27 faceoff between President Joe Biden and Trump, taking place at the company’s Atlanta studios and without a live audience.
Harris’s campaign, which originally sought to change the rules that had been sought by allies of Biden before he ended his presidential bid, said it would accept muted microphones and other restrictions during a CNN debate.
Biden’s halting performance during that debate ultimately led to his decision to end his candidacy. Trump praised CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, who did not fact-check him during the debate.
The former president has complained about ABC’s moderators, who called out some of his falsehoods during the Sept. 10 debate with Harris.
“Both Vice President Harris and former President Trump received an invitation to participate in a CNN debate this fall as we believe the American people would benefit from a second debate between the two candidates for President of the United States,” CNN said in a statement. “We look forward to receiving a response from both campaigns so the American public can hear more from these candidates as they make their final decision.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to The Post for a request for comment.
Trump has vacillated between expressing openness to another debate and asserting that he would not participate in one.
“THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” he posted on his Truth Social platform earlier this month.