ABC News still ‘full steam ahead’ with presidential debate, despite Trump backing off commitment

By Hadas Gold, CNN

New York (CNN) — ABC News is continuing preparations for an upcoming presidential debate, despite former President Donald Trump saying he won’t consider participating in a debate until the Democratic Party formally chooses its nominee.

“Full steam ahead,” an ABC network source told CNN on Friday.

Despite ABC’s preparations for the debate, set to be moderated by anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis, the network’s plan could still be upended like so many other institutions and traditions this year.

“I haven’t agreed to anything. I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden,” Trump, the Republican nominee, said on a press call earlier this week. “But I want to debate with her, and she’ll be no different because they have the same policies. I think debating is important for a presidential race, I really do. You sort of have an obligation to debate.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee, later told reporters she had agreed to the September 10 debate and accused Trump of “backpedaling.”

“What happened to ‘any time, any place?’” Harris wrote in a post on X.

Even before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, the campaigns did away with the independent Commission on Presidential Debates, which had arranged the debates for decades, instead agreeing to debates directly arranged by television networks.

A person familiar with the matter said Friday that NBC is “in ongoing discussion with the campaigns,” but it’s unclear whether that involves plans for a debate, or other events like town halls with the candidates.

Both the Biden and Trump campaigns had agreed to a debate hosted by CNN on June 27, a debate hosted by ABC on September 10, and Harris had agreed to a vice presidential debate hosted by CBS, though a date had not been set before Biden exited the race.

The CNN debate will go down in history as one of the most – if not the most – consequential presidential debates in history, with Biden’s poor performance turbocharging calls for the 81-year-old president to bow out of the race.

After Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, Trump suggested the ABC debate should be moved to the right-wing network Fox News. Earlier this week, Fox sent letters to both campaigns offering to host their own presidential debate. Neither campaign has publicly responded to the offer.

The location, rules, and format of the ABC News debate have not been announced, although the network on Friday afternoon released the requirements for candidates to qualify. An ABC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Jason Miller, a senior advisor to the Trump campaign, told Axios on Thursday, “A debate will happen. I’m not sure it will be ABC.”

“We do think there should be some diversification in the outlets for who hosts a debate,” he added. “But I think the public would be sold short if we only did one debate against Kamala Harris in the general election.”

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