Donald Trump says it’s ‘too late’ for another debate after Kamala Harris accepts CNN’s offer for October event

Donald Trump said it was “simply too late” for another debate with Kamala Harris, after the vice president said earlier in the day she had accepted CNN’s offer to host an event on October 23.

“The voting has already started,” Trump said at a rally this afternoon. “… Now she wants to have a debate right before the election with CNN because she’s losing badly.”

Trump said there would be no more debates after the ABC News event last week. The former president had previously said he would accept an event sponsored by Fox News. Asked about Harris accepting CNN’s offer, the Trump campaign spokesman pointed to his previous comment on Truth Social, in which he rejected another.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Kamala Harris’ campaign manager, said in a statement: “The American people deserve another chance to watch Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they vote. It would be unprecedented in modern history for there to be just one general election debate. Debates offer a unique opportunity for voters to see the candidates side by side and take stock of their competing visions for America.”

She added: “Vice President Harris is ready to share the stage with Donald Trump again and has accepted CNN’s invitation to a debate on October 23. Donald Trump should have no problem accepting this debate. It is the same format and setup as the CNN debate he attended and claimed to have won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules and audience.”

Trump and President Joe Biden debated in June, resulting in a disastrous performance by the president that led him to drop out of the race nearly a month later.

There has been at least one presidential debate in every cycle since 1976. Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan had only one debate in 1980.