Declaring himself the winner of Tuesday night’s presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he does not feel inclined to do a rematch.
What You Need To Know
- Declaring himself the winner of Tuesday night’s presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he does not feel inclined to do a rematch
- Trump complained the debate was “rigged” and that it was “three on one,” arguing ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were unfair toward him
- Trump also suggested, without evidence, that the network slipped Harris the debate questions in advance
- Apparently not pleased with Baier’s and MacCallum’s post-debate commentary, Trump said, if he agrees to a second debate, he would not want Fox News' Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum moderating it.
“When a fighter loses, he says, ‘I want a rematch,’” Trump said in an interview with “Fox & Friends.” “ … I don’t know that I want to do another debate.”
The former president, however, left an opening to change his mind, saying, “I think we let it settle in. Let’s see what happens.”
He later signaled similar openness while speaking to reporters in Shanksville, Pa., on Wednesday, expressing that he was mulling doing future debates, including one he proposed for Sept. 25 on NBC.
"I would do do NBC, I’d do Fox too, I'd do Fox too," Trump said. "But right now we have to determine whether we want to do it. We had a great night last night.”
Trump claimed, “Every single poll last night had me winning like 90 to 10.” He said a C-SPAN poll showed him besting Harris at one point 80%-20%.
The C-SPAN poll was an informal survey on X, formerly Twitter. Spectrum News has reached out to the Trump campaign for more information about the other polling Trump cited.
In a CNN flash poll conducted by the firm SSRS, 63% of debate watchers said Harris won, while 37% said Trump won.
Trump complained the debate was “rigged” and that it was “three on one,” arguing ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were unfair toward him.
Trump accused the moderators of fact-checking him and not Harris. Muir and Davis challenged several of Trump’s false and misleading claims, including about crime statistics and a conspiracy theory that Haitian migrants are stealing and eating pets in Ohio and crime statistics.
The moderators, however, let some other dubious Trump statements go unchecked, including when he implied that all judges dismissed his legal challenges of the 2020 election based on lack of standing, that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected his offer for 10,000 National Guard troops on Jan. 6, 2021, and that his administration terminated the Afghanistan withdrawal deal it negotiated with the Taliban before he left office because the terrorist organization violated its terms.
Some misleading comments by Harris were indeed not fact-checked, such as her claims that Trump is associated with the conservative roadmap known as Project 2025 and that couples are being denied IVF treatment.
“It was a rigged deal, as I assumed it would be. … They were correcting everything [he said] and not correcting with her,” Trump said.
The former president called ABC News “the most dishonest news organization,” adding, “They ought to take away their license for the way they did that.”
Trump also suggested, without evidence, that the network slipped Harris the debate questions in advance.
“They had a rigged show with somebody that maybe even had the answers,” he said. “I mean, I'll be honest. I watched her talk, and I said, ‘You know, she seems awfully familiar with the questions.’ And you get pretty good at that stuff after a while.”
Immediately after the debate, the Harris campaign said in a statement the vice president “is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?”
Fox News said it has offered to host the debate and presented the candidates with three options: Oct. 9 in Arizona, Oct. 15 in Georgia or Oct. 16 in North Carolina. The network has proposed having hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum moderate the debate.
Apparently not pleased with Baier’s and MacCallum’s post-debate commentary, Trump said, if he agrees to a second debate, he would not want Baier and MacCallum moderating it.
“I'd love to have, frankly, Sean [Hannity] or Jesse [Watters] or Laura [Ingraham],” Trump said. “You know, somebody else. Let's give other people a shot. But I didn't think Martha and Bret were good last night. Jesse was fantastic last night, what he said. Jesse really got it. Jesse said Trump won the debate.”
Last year, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the network of promoting false claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
In 2018, The Washington Post reported Trump and Hannity spoke several times a week and that Trump advisers referred to Hannity as the then president’s “shadow” chief of staff.
Fox’s Steve Doocy defended Baier and MacCallum after Trump criticized them.
“I think that Bret and Martha would do a phenomenal job,” he told Trump.