Harris accepts CNN offer for second presidential debate on Oct. 23
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(NEW YORK) — Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday she has accepted an offer from CNN for a second presidential debate against former President Donald Trump on Oct. 23.
Harris said in a statement on X that she accepted the offer for the debate and called on her opponent to accept as well.
“I hope @realDonaldTrump will join me,” she said in her post.
The Harris campaign challenged Trump to another debate less than an hour after the Sept. 10 ABC News presidential debate ended. However, Trump said in a statement that he would not participate in another debate against Harris. He has not publicly responded to the CNN offer.
The October CNN debate would have the same rules as the debate in June that the network held between Trump and President Joe Biden, according to Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon. That includes no audience and the microphones would be muted when one candidate isn’t speaking, sources with knowledge of the rules told ABC News.
The debate would take place long after early voting begins in several states across the country. A debate between vice presidential candidates Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance is scheduled for Oct. 1 on CBS.
“It would be unprecedented in modern history for there to just be one general election debate,” O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. adding that “debates offer a unique chance for voters to see the candidates side by side and take stock of their competing visions for America.”
ABC News’ Rick Klein and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Forty-two years ago, Lita Rosario-Richardson was the only woman on Howard University’s debate team. She made sure that changed — successfully recruiting Kamala Harris.
“I noticed Kamala’s analytical skills and critical thinking skills and that she had a very cogent way of making arguments,” said Rosario-Richarson.
Rosario-Richardson and Harris’ former debate opponents are some of the people who know her debating style best. Many of them are now expressing for the first time how Harris’ earlier debates could impact her upcoming one on Sept. 10 against former President Donald Trump.
The ABC News presidential debate will take place on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET and air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.
Seizing a moment
When then-San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris took the stage against Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley in the general race for California attorney general in 2010, Harris was trailing in the polls.
A reporter asked Cooley about accepting both his pension as a former LA district attorney and an attorney general salary, which would bring him over $400,000 from taxpayers.
“I definitely earned whatever pension rights I have and I will certainly rely upon that to supplement the very low – incredibly low salary that’s paid to the attorney general,” Cooley responded.
Harris’ campaign turned Cooley’s answer into a campaign ad.
Her former aides tell ABC News that Harris had hoped to focus the race on her accomplishments and vision, but she signed off on the ad regardless.
In an interview with ABC News, Cooley said “I think she had very good consultants who constructed an ad,” but added he thought Harris “was not smart.”
On election night, Cooley was narrowly ahead and initially claimed victory, but Harris emerged as the winner when the votes were fully counted weeks later.
Cooley said he had not watched the debate since it happened, but he predicted that in the upcoming debate against Trump “a lot is going to depend upon the rules of the debate, and if she is there for an hour and a half on generally important issues and the questions are fair, she will not be well in a debate setting. She needs her teleprompter. She needs her notes that are probably written by someone else in order to do well.”
Cooley and Harris’ former aides both said neither had a teleprompter during the AG debate and both had notes on stage.
Former California Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, who lost to Harris in the primary for the AG race, said it would be a mistake for Trump to assume Harris is “dumb” going into the debate. “She’s not dumb, and she’s going to prosecute him. She’s not going to debate him … She’s going to treat him like one of the defendants that she prosecuted when she was a rank and file DA in Oakland.”
A perceived Achilles’ heel
Just a few months before the 2010 general election debate, Torrico, former Facebook executive Chris Kelly, Congressman Ted Lieu, former LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and former state assembly member Pedro Nava were among Harris’ opponents in the AG primary race.
Congressman Lieu remembered, “She came from a law enforcement background, and that really came out. She didn’t take any crap. I wouldn’t want to debate her.”
Nava was one of the five men who faced Harris in the primary debate held by Los Angeles ABC station KABC. He described her as unfazed, saying, “There’s nothing more scary than a woman who doesn’t fear men.”
Delgadillo, who was next to Harris at the debate, said what stood out to him most was a call she made to him after the race. “She was extraordinarily magnanimous and gracious after defeating all of us,” he said.
Torrico said he knew Harris was the frontrunner going into the race.
He said, “The question that I always had in my mind was, can we trap her? Can we get her to say something? Can we get her to lose her cool?”
Torrico said in one forum they were seeking the Service Employees International Union’s endorsement. Torrico said he reminded the members in attendance that he had represented many of them, and knowing many spoke Spanish, answered part of a question in Spanish. “They went crazy … and I just looked at her and I thought, ‘Okay, bring it now.'”
He said Harris deflected the original question. “She just went after corporate America and the rich,” he said. “She just totally diffused all of the enthusiasm.”
“I was just sitting there fuming and saying, ‘She’s not answering the question at all. I just answered the question. I hit a home run … and everyone’s clapping for you.'”
Torrico said, “I always thought it was an Achilles’ heel for her … she’s very good at saying a lot of things without answering the actual question.”
He said once at a forum, when he didn’t know she was in attendance, he initially felt he had a great response on stage to a question about criminal justice. “I said something like, whoever the next attorney general is, he would have to do such and such.” Torrico said Harris “just popped out of nowhere, threw her finger in the air and declared, ‘or she will have to!'”
“I was like, ‘Oh God, what are you doing here? Where’d you come from?'” said Torrico.
“The room loved it,” he said.
Torrico said he grew reflective at the DNC. “I’m among the many people she vanquished on the path to where she is now,” he said.
Changing a moment
During her first public office debate for San Francisco district attorney, Harris had been in single digits in the polls, but her former campaign manager says that would change during one of the forums.
Someone in the audience asked Harris how she’d lead independently of the current mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown. Harris had dated Brown about a decade before when he was the Speaker of California’s State Assembly. Harris responded by walking over to her opponents, Bill Fazio and the current DA, Terrance Hallinan, and mentioned the scandals that had been highlighting about each other.
Then she said, “I want to make a commitment to you that my campaign is not going to be about negative attacks.”
Former Harris aides say moments like that helped her beat Fazio, and got her to the runoff.
Fazio said he doesn’t recall that specific moment, but told ABC News that he had more experience as a trial attorney than Harris. But “she certainly was a much more accomplished and natural politician than I ever was. It’s probably the reason I lost.”
“She didn’t back down”
As the only woman at the time on Howard’s debate team, Rosaro-Richardson noticed how Harris challenged men.
“Oftentimes men use their physical prowess and the strength of their voices to win an argument. But I noticed that she didn’t allow that to deter her,” she said.
She remembers one specific moment when Harris was debating a man during her time on the Howard team.
“She was in cross examination, and [the opponent] hit her hand … I don’t know if it was intentional,” she said.
She said Harris stated out loud, “He hit my hand.” But Harris, according to Rosario-Richardson, did a “good job of it at the time … it didn’t throw her off. She was able to gather herself back after a few seconds and get back to the point.”
Rosario-Richardson said she will be watching Tuesday’s debate with other Howard alums and believes Donald Trump will be her most unpredictable opponent yet.
“I would say this is a unique situation because of the unpredictability of how Donald Trump will approach this debate and whether or not she can focus on substantive issues or focus on personal attacks,” Rosario-Richardson said.
She added that regardless of having known Harris’ debate style for over four decades, she has little idea of what to expect like everyone else. “I’m going to be excited. I’m going to feel some of the anticipation,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — President Joe Biden, during an appearance on “The View” on Wednesday, said he is “at peace” with his decision to exit the 2024 race but says he is still confident he would have defeated Donald Trump in November.
Biden sat down for roughly a half hour with the show’s five co-hosts in what was his first interview since the Democratic National Convention and the Sept. 10 ABC News presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump.
The president was first asked to reflect on stepping aside and ending his bid for reelection amid growing concerns from Democrats about his age and ability to carry out a grueling campaign and possible second term.
“I am at peace with my decision,” Biden said. “Look, when I ran for this last term, I said I saw myself as a transition president … But what happened was we were having so much success in getting things done that people felt we couldn’t get done, I found myself having used more time than I would’ve ordinarily to, you know, pass that torch.”
Biden then turned to praising Harris, who he called “tough” and “honorable.”
“And the thing I like about her, and one thing we share in common, is that we have an optimistic view of the future,” he said.
Still, Biden inisisted he would have defeated Trump had he stayed in the race.
Biden said he “never fully believed” claims that there was “overwhelming reluctance” to his continuing his campaign, despite, at the time of his announcement, there being 40 Democrats publicly calling for him to withdraw and behind-the-scenes pressure from leaders like Sen. Chuck Schumer and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He asserted such statements from Democrats wasn’t the reason he stepped down.
“I was confident I would beat Trump. He’s a loser,” Biden told “The View” hosts.
Biden’s advice for Harris on how to win was for her to “be herself.” He then briefly ran through her record as a prosecutor, U.S. senator and in his administration.
“As vice president, there wasn’t a single thing that I did that she couldn’t do,” he said. “So, I was able to delegate her responsibility on everything from foreign policy to domestic policy.”
“I just think she is — she has the energy, she has the intelligence, she has the grit, she has the stamina, and she has the guts to do the right thing,” he added.
Biden’s appearance on “The View” touched on his long career in government, with hosts paying homage to his work on the Violence Against Women Act and his administration’s diverse Cabinet and nomination of the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
But they also discussed hot-button issues such as Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and the Israel-Gaza war.
Asked about Trump blaming Biden and Democrats for the heated environment, Biden called Trump “the most unusual president” and said he was inspired to run in 2020 to restore the “soul of the nation.”
“Trump is — there’s not a social redeeming value there,” Biden said. The president asserted Trump “does not believe in democracy” and “failed to understand” the value of global alliances.
On Israel-Gaza, Biden said while he supported Israel he did not agree with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position and that there needs to be a cease-fire as well as a two-state solution.
Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, with fighting between Israel and Lebanon increasing, Biden said the region is at an inflection point.
“An all our war is possible,” he warned. “But I think there’s also the opportunity still in play to have a settlement that can fundamentally the change the whole region.”
(PHILADELPHIA) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will meet for the first time on Tuesday for the ABC News presidential debate.
It is the only debate the two have scheduled and comes at a critical point as polls show a neck-and-neck race with just eight weeks until Election Day.
The two will face off on key issues starting at 9 p.m. ET. The debate will air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Trump campaign spokesperson says he’s not engaged in traditional debate prep
Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said Tuesday morning on ABC News Live that Trump “does not do traditional debate prep” and reiterated that he has been campaigning and engaging in policy discussions instead.
“I would say that the president does not do traditional debate prep. He’s on the campaign trail constantly. We see him in key battleground states every week, joined by tens of thousands of patriots,” she said. “We know that he does tough interviews, both nationally, locally.”
“That’s truly how he prepares for these debates, having those conversations every day. He’s ready to step back into the White House,” she continued. “We also know that he prefers to have those policy discussions, and he’s been doing that with elected members in Congress like Matt Gaetz, with former Congress member Tulsi Gabbard and others — very similar to what he did to prepare for that first debate against Joe Biden. He has prepared in a similar way again, just by getting out there and talking every day to voters and talking to media.”
-ABC News’ Soorin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh
Harris not ‘underestimating’ Trump ahead of debate: Source
Just hours away from the debate, a campaign source is setting expectations that Harris is not “underestimating” Trump’s ability to debate, and that it would be a “mistake” to do so.
The Harris team expects Trump to be “good” at debating, stressing that Trump has done this more than anybody else, while it will be Harris’s first presidential debate.
The Harris campaign is “happy to get under [Trump’s] skin,” and they hope that bringing former Trump officials into the spin room later this evening will accomplish this.
On a campaign call last night, a source said Harris is ready for any version of Trump that shows up — whether it’s the presidential Trump, the more mellow Trump during the Biden debate or a more aggressive version.
-ABC News’ Selina Wang
8 hours until the Harris-Trump ABC debate, here is how to watch tonight
The consequential Harris-Trump face-off will air live tonight at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.
ABC News Live is available on Samsung TV+, The Roku Channel, Amazon Fire TV devices, YouTube, Tubi, the ABC app, and ABC.com.
ABC News Digital and 538 will live blog the latest from the debate stage with coverage, analysis and fact checks.
SiriusXM users can listen to the debate on Channel 370.
The prime-time pre-debate special, “Race for the White House,” will air at 8 p.m. ET and stream on ABC’s platforms.
President Joe Biden will be watching the debate from New York, where he’s going to be for 9/11 memorial events, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“The president will definitely be watching,” she said in Monday’s briefing.
Jean-Pierre wouldn’t give details on any conversations about the debate between Harris and Biden or whether he’s given her any takeaways from his own last face-off with Trump, but she said the president was “very proud” of Harris.
“What I can say is, that he’ll be watching, he supports, obviously, the vice president, is very proud of her, and I just don’t have anything else to add,” she said.
– ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
5 things to watch in the high-stakes Harris-Trump faceoff
Harris and Trump square off Tuesday at what could be their only presidential debate, setting high stakes for an event expected to be viewed by millions of Americans and a key sliver of undecided voters. Here’s what to look out for.
Can Trump stay focused on policy? Staying on message on his four-year economic record is key, while veering into personal attacks would be counterproductive, allies told ABC News.
Harris has dual goals: make the case for herself as someone who would be a capable president and get under Trump’s skin. How will she introduce herself to undecided voters?
Read the rest of the five things to watch for in the debate here.
Walz fundraising email says ‘Trump is sure to talk about his twisted version of freedom’
Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, previewed the vice president’s upcoming debate with Trump in a fundraising email on Tuesday morning — contrasting their campaign’s message on the economy and freedom with Trump’s platforms.
“She’s going to show everyone watching what this movement is all about: supporting families like yours and mine and building a future where everyone has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead,” the email reads. “Donald Trump is sure to talk about his twisted version of freedom,” Walz claimed in the email.
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
Harris and Trump to have various surrogates in spin room
Harris and Trump will have a handful of surrogates representing them in the spin room following the debate.
Harris will have Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gavin Newsom of California, Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico representing her in the spin room post debate, a campaign official confirmed to ABC News.
In addition to attending a watch party hosted by the Trump campaign, GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance will also participate in the spin room.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Gov. Doug Burgum, tech entreprenuer Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Bryon Donalds, and Sen. Rick Scott are also expected to appear on behalf of Trump.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Will McDuffie, Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, and Soo Rin Kim
Debate will show ‘strength and success’ of Trump vs. ‘devastation and weakness’ of Harris: Stefanik
House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik teed up her expectations for tonight’s presidential debate, telling reporters that Harris “cannot hide forever.”
“Tonight at the debate, the country will finally get to see the stark contrast between the strength and success of President Trump’s America-first policies and the devastation and weakness of Kamala Harris’s radical, failed, far-left agenda,” Stefanik, the fourth-ranked House Republican, claimed at a news conference in the Capitol Tuesday morning.
-ABC News’ John Parkinson
Harris campaign says it’s hosting 1,300 watch parties, Walz to deliver remarks in Arizona
Harris’ campaign said it’s hosting more than 1,300 debate watch parties across the country, and running mate Gov. Tim Walz will deliver remarks at one of them in Phoenix Tuesday night.
The watch parties will be in all 50 states, with more than 100 planned on college campuses, according to the campaign. The events will be used for volunteers to make calls to battleground-state voters and share debate content on digital platforms.
More than 300 of the planned watch parties will be group specific, including Republicans for Harris-Walz and Veterans for Harris-Walz events in Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia. There will also be Latino house parties in Arizona and labor-organized events in Pennsylvania, according to the campaign.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Adbul-Hakim and Will McDuffie
Harris tweet: ‘America, see you tonight’
Looking ahead to Tuesday night’s debate, Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted “America, see you tonight.”
Before departing for Philadelphia on Monday, Harris told reporters that she’s feeling “good.” She also gave a thumbs up.
The vice president’s tweet also included a link to a list of debate watch parties the campaign is hosting across the country.
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow
Harris releases new ad repurposing Obama’s dig at Trump
Vice President Kamala Harris repurposed former President Barack Obama’s suggestive dig at Trump over what Obama called his “weird obsession with crowd sizes” while speaking at the Democratic National Convention last month.
“Here’s a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems …” Obama said in the clip used in the ad, just before a clip of Trump at rally plays.
“Ooh, she had a big crowd! Ooh, that crowd,” Trump said in the snippet, mocking news reports about turnout for Harris.
“This weird obsession with crowd sizes… it just goes on, and on, and on,” Obama says as the ad returns to him, followed by shots of small Trump crowds and sounds of crickets chirping.
“America’s ready for a new chapter. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris,” Obama says.
The Harris campaign said the ad, titled “Crowd Size,” will air on Fox News the day of the debate because “Trump is known to watch” the network.
The 30-second ad is set to air nationally on cable news and in local West Palm Beach and Philadelphia markets.
– ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, and Will McDuffie
Anthony Scaramucci among former Trump officials to serve as Harris surrogates in Philadelphia
Anthony Scaramucci and Olivia Troye, former Trump administration officials, will serve as Kamala Harris surrogates in Philadelphia today, the Harris campaign announced.
“Listen, don’t take it from us: Take it from the ones who know Donald Trump the best and who are telling the American people exactly how unfit Trump is to serve as president,” Harris spokesman Michael Tyler said.
Scaramucci served as Trump’s White House communications director. Troye served as the Homeland Security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, as well as a top aide on the Trump White House coronavirus task force.
According to the campaign, they plan to discuss their support of Harris ahead of tonight’s debate.
They are among numerous former Trump staffers who continue to speak out.
– ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Fritz Farrow, and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim
Debate day arrives in Philadelphia
The stage is set for tonight’s high-stakes showdown in Philadelphia.
The lecterns are placed six feet apart at the National Constitution Center – where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will meet in person for the first time.
The 9 p.m. ET matchup comes with just eight weeks to go until Election Day amid a tumultuous and unpredictable campaign.
The debate, moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, will air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. Viewers can also stream the debate on the ABC app on a smartphone or tablet, on ABC.com and connected devices. A prime-time pre-debate special will start at 8 p.m. ET.
