Vice President Kamala Harris agreed Saturday to debate former President Donald Trump again next month — but he told a crowd of supporters it was “too late” for a rematch.
Both candidates “received an invitation” from CNN to face off Oct. 23 in the Atlanta studio where Trump debated President Joe Biden in June before Biden dropped his reelection bid, the network noted.
Harris’ campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said in a statement that the Democratic nominee was “ready for another opportunity to share a stage with Donald Trump,” and that he “should have no problem agreeing to this debate.”
Harris also said on social media that she “will gladly accept a second presidential debate” and added that she hoped Trump “will join me.”
But Trump said during a campaign rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, that he would turn down the invite.
“The problem with another debate is that it’s just too late, voting has already started,” he said, CNN reported.
Since their Sept. 10 debate, Trump has waffled on the idea of facing Harris again, saying in a Sept. 12 post on his social media website, “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” because, he insisted, he had won.
The next day, he softened that position, telling reporters in California: “I did great in the debates, and I think they’ve answered everything. But maybe if I got in the right mood, I don’t know.”
But on Saturday, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung pointed to the Republican nominee’s social media post when asked whether he would accept CNN’s invitation, the network said.
Most political analysts and voters polled after the Sept. 10 debate said Harris beat Trump, who claimed afterward that it was a “rigged deal” because the ABC News moderators fact-checked some of his responses but not those of Harris.
Trump’s challenged assertions included the debunked claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pet dogs and cats owned by local residents.
