By Ebony Davis, Hadas Gold and Alayna Treene, CNN
(CNN) — Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are set to debate on ABC on September 10 after the former president said Thursday he had agreed to the faceoff, along with two others next month. Trump spoke at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
“ABC News will host qualifying presidential candidates to debate on September 10 on ABC. Vice President Harris and former President Trump have both confirmed they will attend the ABC debate,” the network said in a statement.
Speaking at the news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said that he was “looking forward” to debating the vice president and that he had agreed to upcoming dates with Fox News, ABC and NBC.
“I think it’s very important to have debates, and we’ve agreed with Fox on a date of September 4. We’ve agreed with NBC. Fairly full agreement subject to them on September 10. And we’ve agreed with ABC on September 25,” the former president said.
A senior Trump adviser and an ABC source familiar with the matter both said that the correct dates Trump has agreed to with networks are: September 4 with Fox News, September 10 with ABC and September 25 with NBC.
Trump said “minor details” were still being worked out, including audience and locations.
“The other side has to agree to the terms. They may or may not agree. I don’t know if they’re going to agree. (Harris) hasn’t done an interview. She can’t do an interview. She’s barely competent, and she can’t do an interview, I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight,” he said.
CNN has reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.
Harris previously agreed to the ABC debate on September 10 – which was originally accepted by Trump and former President Joe Biden before the latter dropped out of the race. Earlier this week, Trump had said that he would not debate Harris if she did not agree to attend the proposed Fox News debate on September 4.
An ABC source was confident that the network’s debate would be the first one between Trump and the vice president, as the Harris campaign has indicated she will not agree to the Fox News debate.
A source familiar with the NBC negotiations said September 25 was “one of the dates” given to the campaigns. While the network has been in discussions with both camps, the Harris campaign has not formally accepted.
Details on location, rules and moderators will be determined closer to the debate date.
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Added by Peter Katz of Westfair Communications: During the news conference, Trump falsely claimed that the Harris and Walz campaign drew only 1,500 to rallies yesterday and on previous days when, in fact, from 20,000 to more than 50,000 people had shown up for their rallies. Trump also claimed that no one has ever attracted more people to a rally than him. Trump also claimed that abortion will not be a major issue in the November election. Trump falsely claimed that he spoke to a bigger crowd before the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 than Dr. Martin Luther King spoke to during his civil rights rally in Washington in 1963 that was attended by an estimated 250,000 people. Trump also accused Harris of not being smart enough to hold a news conference and answer questions from reporters.
