Palm Beach, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump renewed his promise to discuss Vice President Kamala Harris after recently backing down, holding a lengthy news conference Thursday in which he mocked his new rival and boasted about his meeting on Jan. 6, 2021. Outside of questions about the excitement his campaign is generating.
As the Republican presidential nominee spoke to reporters at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate, Trump and Democratic nominee Harris agreed to a Sept. 10 debate, ABC reported, setting up a widely anticipated faceoff in an already lopsided election. Trump said he proposed three debates with three television networks in September.
Trump again falsely insisted that a “peaceful transition” of power had taken place in 2021, and renewed attacks on Republican rivals such as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, whom Trump has criticized for refusing to accept Kemp’s false theories about election fraud.
Taking questions from reporters for more than an hour, Trump sought to contrast Harris, who has not held a news conference since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Another key moment of the election is set
Trump’s decision to go on ABC sets up a high-stakes moment in an election where Biden’s disastrous performance in the last debate set the stage for his withdrawal.
Five days ago, he announced he would not be doing debates on ABC, saying his contract with the network was “terminated.” If Harris hadn’t appeared on Fox News on Sept. 4, “I would never have seen her,” he wrote on his social media site.
On Thursday, he announced a change of heart — and tried to pressure Harris to agree to two more September debates on Fox and NBC.
Asked what he would do if only ABC agreed to the debate, Harris said, “I don’t know how that’s going to happen. We want to have three debates. We think we’re going to have three debates.”
Hours after the news conference, Harris told reporters he was “glad he finally committed” to a debate with her on ABC on Sept. 10, the date originally set for the Trump-versus-Biden showdown and which his campaign had long clung to. to do
“I’m looking forward to it and I hope he comes,” he said.
Thursday’s event was Trump’s first public appearance since Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as his running mate. Trump called Wallis a “radical leftist.”
“Between her and him, there’s never been anything like this,” Trump said. “Surely no one was as generous as these two.”
He suggested several times that Harris was not smart enough to debate him. Harris, for his part, has tried to engage Trump in the debate, and if he had anything to say about him to an audience in Atlanta recently, he “ Say it to my face.”
Trump was visibly confused when pressed on Harris’ rally and new Democratic enthusiasm, dismissing a question about his lighter campaign schedule as “stupid.”
Trump says he’s not “rethinking” his campaign despite facing a new opponent, something some Republican strategists have quietly complained about.
Asked what property Harris owned, Trump said: “She’s a woman. She represents certain groups.
Things to know about 2024 elections
Trump has repeatedly — and falsely — accused Harris, the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, of previously belittling her for being black.
Trump acknowledged the weakness of black women
Trump acknowledged some changing patterns with his new opponent, admitting he is unpopular with black women, one of the Democrats’ key voting blocs. He expressed great confidence in the support of black men.
“I might be a bit affected by black women, but we’re good,” she said. “I think in the end they’ll like me better because I’m going to give them security, safety and jobs. I’m going to give them a good economy.
Trump campaign officials told reporters before the news conference that they believe Harris is currently enjoying his honeymoon.
They argued that the fundamentals of race had not changed and that the mood in the country was sour, with Americans frustrated with the economy, governance and the direction of the country. They say that while Harris may have energized the Democratic base, he won’t be able to win over Republicans or convert independents or the persuasive voters they target.
Trump’s campaign plans to spend the next three months hammering Harris as a “failed, weak and dangerous liberal,” blaming him for each of the unpopular policies of the Biden administration and mocking his demeanor and speaking style.
Trump Raises Questions on Abortion
Trump suggested that abortion would not be a big issue in November’s campaign and aftermath.
She asserted that the issue has “become less of an issue” since the Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion services and returned control of the matter to state governments. But the issue is widely seen as a general election liability, and Trump named states like Ohio and Kansas that voted to protect abortion rights.
Trump also said he expected Florida to “go a little more liberal than people thought” when it voted to repeal the abortion ban later this year, but he did not respond to questions about how he would vote.
Trump argued that Democrats, Republicans and “everyone” were happy with the results of the 2022 ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
However, Trump’s actions within the GOP mean he knows that Democrats have already taken advantage of Republican opposition to abortion rights and could do so again this fall. Trump single-handedly ensured that the Republican platform adopted at the 2024 convention in Milwaukee did not call for a national ban on abortion, and he repeatedly said hardliners in the party could cost the GOP in November.
The court’s ruling, released just months before the 2022 midterm elections, is widely cited as a reason why Democrats fared better than expected in the House and Senate races. Democrats have attacked Trump and the judges he appointed for ending Roe in paid ads.
Trump again makes false claims on January 6
Trump falsely claimed during a press conference that “no one was killed on Jan. 6,” the date pro-Trump rioters overran the U.S. capital in 2021, amid a congressional effort to certify Biden’s 2020 election victory after Trump refused to acknowledge Trump’s 2020 election victory.
Ashley Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego, was shot and killed by a police officer as she climbed through a broken part of the Capitol doors during a violent riot that overtook the building.
Trump has often cited Babbitt’s death as those who first attended a rally outside the White House that day and then marched on the Capitol, many of them lamenting the treatment of those who entered the building after brawling with police.
“I think those people were treated very badly. Compared to other things that have happened in this country where a lot of people have been killed,” Trump said Thursday.
He falsely claimed that the pre-riot “Stop the Steel” rally, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, drew more people than the famous March on Washington in 1963. .
Trump was asked about Biden’s comments in the CBS interview, saying that if Trump loses, he “doesn’t believe” there will be a peaceful transfer of power.
“If he has any problem he should have brought it up in the discussion. Surely there will be a peaceful transfer, as it was last time.
When Biden opened on schedule, Washington was on lockdown that day, two weeks after Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol as the streets were patrolled by military personnel and domestic police. ___
Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Washington and Darlene Superville in Romulus, Mich., contributed to this report.
