Donald Trump and Kamala Harris agree to September 10 debate on ABC, two more dates on the horizon

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday he has agreed to three debates in September against his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, on three different networks.

“I think it’s very important to have debates,” Mr Trump said at the start of a solo news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Palm Beach, Florida.

The former president said he agreed to a September 4 debate on Fox News.

He also said his campaign has a “fairly full agreement” with NBC News and an agreement with ABC News for two more debates in September.

ABC had previously agreed to host a presidential debate with Mr Trump and Ms Harris on September 10.

It was not immediately clear whether NBC had agreed to host on Sept. 25, a date Mr Trump floated.

Fox also previously agreed to host a Trump-Harris debate.

Both the Harris and Trump campaigns have agreed to attend ABC’s debate, the network confirmed Thursday afternoon.

The announcement was a reversal from Mr Trump, who said last week that he would not participate in a debate on ABC because his pending defamation lawsuit against the network created a “conflict of interest.”

Mr Trump in Thursday’s news conference also said that CBS News will be hosting a vice presidential debate between Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

Trump’s freewheeling presser, which lasted about an hour, came amid a swell of momentum for the Harris-Walz ticket.

Mr Trump’s campaign is heaping pressure on Ms Harris and Mr Walz to take questions from the media, accusing her of dodging the press.

“She hasn’t done an interview, she can’t do an interview, she’s barely competent,” Mr Trump said at the presser.

Ms Harris, the vice president, has largely sidestepped reporters since President Joe Biden withdrew his re-election bid and endorsed her as his replacement last month.

As she and Mr Walz have embarked on a kick-off campaign swing through pivotal battleground states, Mr Trump’s campaign and his allies have tried to browbeat them into going off the cuff.

But it’s not clear whether the pressure campaign will work on the Democratic ticket, which is still riding a sudden surge in voter enthusiasm and a boost in the polls.

Harris campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said before Mr Trump’s presser that the ex-president is “throwing tantrums” because he isn’t getting the attention he “craves.”

“Trump has no vision, he has no solutions, and he is running a campaign of revenge and retribution to enact his Project 2025 agenda and make people’s lives worse,” Mr Moussa said.