Former President Trump is ready to rumble.
During his lengthy Mar-a-Lago press conference on Thursday, Trump said he would participate in a trio of debates on Fox News Channel, NBC and ABC next month. Shortly afterward, ABC confirmed a debate would take place on Sept. 10 with Trump, the Republican nominee, and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
"ABC News will host qualifying presidential candidates to debate on September 10 on ABC. Vice President Harris and former President Trump have both confirmed they will attend the ABC debate," an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
FOX News Media sent formal letters to the Trump and Harris campaigns last month proposing a debate to take place in September in Pennsylvania. Trump said Thursday he would debate on Fox on Sept. 4.
Trump first suggested on Wednesday that he would be open to a debate on ABC despite an ongoing legal battle with star anchor George Stephanopoulos, who he is suing for defamation.
Trump had insisted that a previously planned ABC News debate – that was agreed to when President Biden was the presumptive nominee – could be a conflict of interest because he is in litigation against Stephanopoulos. He eventually decided debating Harris was too important to skip.
"The most important thing is we get to debate, I think debates are very important," Trump said on "FOX & Friends."
Trump said Thursday that Democrats took the presidency "away" from Biden after his porous debate showing in June.
"The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden, and I’m no Biden fan," Trump said. "From a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you look at, they took the presidency away, and people are saying he lost after the debate and he couldn’t win."
Harris has surged in the polls since ascending as the party's nominee in place of Biden, who dropped out of the race last month under intense party pressure.
This is a developing story, more to come…
