The window for a final 2024 presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is closing.
CNN has publicly offered to host a debate in Atlanta on October 23. Harris has accepted the invitation and welcomed the chance to debate Trump again, but Trump has rejected her calls.
On Tuesday, CNN stepped up the pressure by writing to both campaigns and setting a Thursday deadline for a formal response. Debates, after all, can’t be produced overnight; the events take time to organize.
“CNN sent invitations on September 21 to both Vice President Harris and former President Trump’s campaigns to participate in a CNN debate this fall as we believe the American people would benefit from a second debate between the two candidates for President of the United States,” the network said in a statement.
“With less than 30 days to Election Day, we are placing a deadline for a formal response from both campaigns for this Thursday, October 10 at 12 p.m. ET to participate,” the network said.
US presidential candidates typically meet for multiple televised debates, but this election year has been anything but typical since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race weeks after the first CNN-sponsored debate in June.
Harris tried to capitalize on her performance at the ABC-sponsored debate in September by immediately challenging Trump to debate again. CNN subsequently proposed an October 23 face-off in prime time at the network’s headquarters in Atlanta, the same place where Trump and Biden previously met.
The Harris campaign quickly accepted the second debate invitation, adding that “Trump should have no problem agreeing” since “it is the same format and setup as the CNN debate he attended and said he won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules, and ratings.”
But Trump shunned the offer, claiming it was “too late” for a second debate. (In fact, the CNN date is in line with final debates of other recent election cycles.)
Last week, the Harris campaign said “she will be in Atlanta on October 23,” so “Donald Trump should step up and face the voters.” But Trump responded on Truth Social, “I beat Biden, I then beat her, and I’m not looking to do it again, too far down the line.”
Shortly after the Harris campaign received CNN’s deadline letter Tuesday, Harris spokesman Brian Fallon said she “remains ready to appear at CNN debate on October 23 if Trump will agree.”
“Trump has ducked 60 Minutes and debates, and refused to release medical records” in the campaign’s closing weeks, Fallon added, “as his speeches show him to be less and less stable.”
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