Trump Says He Will Not Participate in a 2nd Debate With Harris

Former President Donald Trump (L) and Vice President Kamala Harris speak during a presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said that he will not partake in a third presidential debate, responding to calls from Vice President Kamala Harris’s team.

“There will be no third debate!” he wrote in all caps on Truth Social, after taking part in a debate against President Joe Biden in June and a debate against Harris earlier this week.

After the Harris camp suggested another debate, Trump used a metaphor likening the vice president to a boxer or a UFC fighter who lost a match.

“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I want a rematch’” the former president wrote, partly in all caps, before suggesting that he “won the Debate,” citing undisclosed polls.

In his social media post on Thursday, Trump signaled that he believes he made his point about illegal immigration, the economy, and other policies that both Harris and Biden have supported during the first two debates.

“Millions of criminals and mentally deranged people are pouring into the USA, totally unchecked and unvetted,” he said, adding that inflation is “bankrupting our Middle Class.”

Those topics and others, he added, were “discussed in great detail during the First Debate with [Biden], and the Second Debate” with Harris.

Soon after Trump’s post on social media, Harris appeared at a rally in North Carolina, expressing that she wants to face the 45th president again.

“I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate, because this election and what are at stake could not be more important,” Harris told supporters Thursday.

As Tuesday’s debate was about to conclude, Harris’s campaign chair, Jen O'Malley Dillon, said in a statement the vice president is ready for a second debate.

“Under the bright lights, the American people got to see the choice they will face this fall at the ballot box,” O'Malley Dillon said on Tuesday evening. “That’s what they saw tonight and what they should see at a second debate in October. Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?” she asked.

Fox News has sent letters to both the Trump and Harris campaigns to implore both candidates to agree to a debate that has the same rules as the ABC News and CNN events. Trump, Harris, and Biden—in the two debates—were given two minutes for responses and microphones were muted when it was the other candidate’s turn to speak.

The network sent a letter to the Harris and Trump campaigns offering to host a 90-minute debate moderated by anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, stating that they would be the best choices for the proposed event, according to the network.

“Now that the first debate is underway between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, FOX News Media is re-upping its proposal,” FOX News Media’s President Jay Wallace and Vice President of Politics Jessica Loker wrote to the campaigns.

“As the Harris Campaign has stated, the American people will have another opportunity to see both on stage in October,” the letter continued.

Initially, Trump and Biden agreed to two debates, with one hosted by CNN and the other by ABC, earlier this year. Weeks after the lone Trump–Biden debate in June, the president announced the suspension of his presidential campaign and backed Harris.

Going into Tuesday’s debate, the Harris campaign said that they would only consider the ABC News matchup.

A debate between vice presidential candidates Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) is scheduled for Oct. 1, which will be hosted by CBS.

Ratings published by ABC News shows that more than 67 million people tuned in to watch the Harris–Trump debate. The CNN debate with Trump and Biden, meanwhile, had 51.3 million viewers.

Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.