Trump says he has agreed to do THREE debates with Kamala Harris

Donald Trump on Thursday proposed three debates with Kamala Harris this fall, making his offer in a freewheeling press conference where he gave his rival a new nickname and doubled down on questions about her racial identity.

His campaign proposed three debates for September: Fox News hosting one on September 4; ABC hosting one on September 10; and NBC on September 25. 

‘We have those three dates and those networks. They’re very anxiously awaiting that date and those dates,’ Trump said at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.

The ABC debate was already on the calendar – originally meant to be between Trump and President Joe Biden.  

Harris agreed to that debate but did not mention other two.

‘I hear that Donald Trump has finally committed to debating me on September 10. I look forward to it,’ she wrote on X. 

Meanwhile, Trump was visibly angry at points in his press conference. He slammed his Democratic rival repeatedly, calling her the ‘politically correct’ choice for a nominee, questioning her intellect and questioning if she should be on the ticket.

He also was asked about a previous comment where he claimed Harris just became black but he side stepped in his response.

‘You have to ask her because she said it. I didn’t say it,’ he said. ‘I think it’s very disrespectful to both whether it’s Indian or black. To me it doesn’t matter.’

The former president held a rambling back-and-forth with reporters at his Palm Beach home as his aides pushed reminders Harris hasn’t set down with journalists since she became the nominee.

During the press conference, which lasted slightly more than an hour, Trump veered back-and-forth between topics at a breakneck pace.

He defended Biden and then insulted him. He dispensed his opinion on a variety of subjects from abortion rights, to the legalization of marijuana, to the state of the economy. He repeated old arguments such as his false claim he had a bigger crowd than Barack Obama at his inauguration. And he came up with new nicknames, such as calling Harris ‘first loser.’ He blasted journalists for ‘stupid questions’ and then promised ‘you’ll get more than you want’ on press briefings.

Trump did not say if his team had reached out to Harris’ team with their debate proposal. The former president did concede she still has to agree to them.

‘I don’t know if they’re gonna agree,’ he said. ‘She hasn’t done an interview.’

Trump and his team have been slamming Harris for not doing a media interview since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and she became the Democratic nominee. 

Her last formal television sit-down interview was on June 24, when she joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe to talk about abortion rights.

Trump alleged that Harris is ‘not smart enough to do a news conference.’

‘And I’m sorry, we need smart people to lead this country.’

Trump had cancelled the Sept. 10 with ABC News because he had originally been set to do with Biden. Harris had agreed to that debate once she replaced Biden.

Trump is also suing ABC and anchor George Stephanopoulos for defamation and called the active litigation a ‘conflict of interest.’ 

But now the former president is now agreeing to meet on the debate stage. 

His news conference, and his debate offer, comes as Harris has made up significant ground in the polls. She led Trump in a new national poll out on Thursday and runs neck-and-neck with him in several battleground states. 

Trump expressed his frustration with the attention his rival is getting.

‘Oh give me a break,’ he snapped when he was asked about the massive crowd at Harris’ rallies. Her biggest rally – held in Detroit on Wednesday night – had 15,000 people.

He then exaggerated the size of his rallies and misrepresented the size of Harris’ crowds. 

‘Listen, I had 107,000 people in New Jersey. You didn’t report it. I’m so glad you asked. What did she have yesterday? 2000 people. If I ever had 2000 people you’d say my campaign is finished. It’s so dishonest the press,’ he said.

‘So based on crowd size, in history, for any country, nobody’s had crowds like I have and you know that.’ 

He claimed he’s even had bigger crowds than those who attended Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I Have A Dream’ speech in 1963.

As Trump spoke, ABC News confirmed that the September 10th debate with Harris and the former president is on with both contenders vowing to be there. 

A well-placed source familiar with the negotiations say the ABC debate is expected to take place in Philadelphia. 

The negotiations were led by Washington bureau chief Rick Klein and the network’s top producer John Santucci. The debate will be hosted by David Muir and Linsey Davis.

Trump, meanwhile, kept railing against Harris. 

He dubbed her the ‘first loser’ and said repeatedly she had gotten ‘no votes.’

He appears to be referring to the 2020 Democratic primary contest. Harris, who was running for president at the time, dropped out of the race before the first nominating contest, which was Iowa’s caucuses. Her campaign had been plagued by infighting and bad management. 

She eventually became Biden’s running mate. 

‘She was the first loser,’ Trump said. ‘She was the first one to quit, and she quit. She had no votes, no support, and she was a bad debater, by the way, very bad debater.’

Donald Trump gave Kamala Harris a new nickname: ‘first loser’

Donald Trump speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago

He also called her the ‘the worst vice president in the history of our country – the most unpopular vice president’ and indicated she was picked as the party nominee for ‘being politically correct.’

In an interview with black journalists last week, Trump questioned whether Harris – who has a black father and South Asian mother – was black.

‘She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?’ he said at the event.

Trump had been making gains with black voters when Biden was on the ticket. Harris is taking the votes back and the former president tried to shrug that off. 

‘I seem to be doing very well with Black males. This is according to polls, as you know. It’s possible that I won’t do as well with Black women, but I do seem to doing very well with other segments – extremely well with Hispanics,’ he said.

He also bragged about his supporters.

‘I do seem to do very well with other segments, extremely well with Hispanic, Jewish voters, way up. White males, way up. White males have gone through the roof. White males, way up. I don’t know,’ he said. 

Trump defended Joe Biden in his press conference – above the two men at their debate

He also defended Biden, his former rival, saying he was sure the president wasn’t happy about his decision to exit the race.

‘I don’t know if he’s happy about that decision,’ he said. ‘The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden. And I’m no Biden fan. But I’ll tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint, you’re looking at they took the presidency away.’

‘He’s a very angry man right now. I can tell you that.’

But he also got in some insults.

‘I’m not a big fan of his brain,’ Trump said of Biden. ‘But I think actually she’s not as smart as he is.’