Donald Trump Questions ABC Over Kamala Harris Debate

After previously agreeing to the faceoff, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has questioned whether he should debate his Democratic rival Kamala Harris on ABC News, a network he considers “FAKE NEWS.”
“I watched ABC FAKE NEWS this morning, both lightweight reporter Jonathan Carl’s(K?) ridiculous and biased interview of Tom Cotton (who was fantastic!), and their so-called Panel of Trump Haters,” he wrote on Truth Social late on Sunday night. “And I ask, why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?
ABC News’ Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl clashed with Republican Senator Tom Cotton on Sunday over Harris’s past support for Medicare for All, a policy she no longer supports.
Karl also asked Cotton whether he agreed with Trump about whether the civilian Presidential Medal of Freedom is “much better” than the Medal of Honor, the highest U.S. Military award. Cotton did not answer the question, instead saying that Trump’s words had been taken “out of context.”
Earlier in August Trump was widley criticized for praising a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, saying her award was “much better” than a Medal of Honor.
“It’s actually much better because everyone [who] gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they’re soldiers,” he said. “They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead. She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal.”
Although he confirmed earlier this month that he would face Harris in an ABC News-hosted debate in Pennsylvania, Trump has now questioned whether the news network will be biased against him, specifically in relation to three people he believes could sabotage the integrity of the debate.
“Will panelist Donna Brazile give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton? Will Kamala’s best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle’ George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved.”
Donna Brazile resigned as a CNN contributor in 2016 after WikiLeaks revealed she shared debate questions with Hillary Clinton’s campaign ahead of Clinton’s debate with Trump. Brazile is currently an ABC News contributor.
“Kamala’s best fried who heads up ABC” could be a reference to Dana Walden, the co-chair of Disney Entertainment, which owns ABC News. Her husband Matt Walden has been close friends with Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff since the 1980s.
“George Slopadopulus” is Trump’s nickname for ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Trump is currently suing ABC and Stephanopoulos on accusations of defamation. Trump said Stephanopoulos defamed him on air by saying he raped E. Jean Carroll.
In May 2023, a New York jury found Trump liable for sexual assault and battery against Carroll, but not for rape.
The question of whether Stephanopoulos defamed Trump by calling him a rapist relates to a later decision by a New York judge who dismissed a counterclaim by Trump against Carroll, writing, “Mr. Trump in fact did ‘rape’ Ms. Carroll as that term commonly is used and understood in contexts outside of the New York penal law.”
The defamation case against the host and the network is set to go to trial.
However, despite Trump’s questions about the integrity of the debate, neither Brazile nor Stephanopoulos are set to be involved in the ABC debate. It is set to be moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, as Trump himself confirmed in a post on Truth Social earlier in August.
Trump concluded his Sunday post: “They’ve [ABC News] got a lot of questions to answer!!! Why did Harris turn down Fox, NBC, CBS, and even CNN? Stay tuned!!!”
Harris declined Trump’s earlier proposal for a debate on Fox News on September 4. Harris’ campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement that the vice president’s team plans to participate in three debates this election season, including a second debate against Trump sometime in October.
Newsweek has contacted Harris’s campaign and ABC News for comment via email.