US election: Donald Trump suggests he may back out of TV debate against Kamala Harris
Donald Trump has suggested he might back out of a scheduled debate with rival presidential hopeful Kamala Harris – as he says the network it is scheduled to be on is “hostile” to Republicans.
Speaking inside a Vietnamese restaurant in Virginia, Trump said he watched ABC’s This Week on Sunday and did not like how how Republican senator Tom Cotton was treated.
“When I looked at the hostility of that, I said, ‘Why am I doing it? Let’s do it with another network’,” Mr Trump told reporters.
He said he would “much rather do it on NBC” or another network, including CBS, CNN and “certainly I’d do it on Fox”.
Mr Trump said he was “still thinking” about whether he wanted to take part at all, saying the Harris campaign wanted to “change the rules” around the debate.
Discussions around the debate between the two candidates have hit an impasse. Pics: AP
Negotiations over the head-to-head have hit an impasse over the issue of “hot” microphones, which would pick up any comments, regardless of whose turn it was to speak.
It had been previously agreed they would be muted, to prevent the candidates talking over one another.
Harris campaign spokesman Brian Fallon alleged that Trump’s aides prefer that the candidates’ microphones are muted “because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own”.
“The vice president is ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time,” he added. “Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button.”
But the Trump campaign has hit back with conflicting statements – with the candidate himself saying he wanted them on, while his team said they did not.
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Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller said that both campaigns had already agreed to the debate rules, which he said mirrored the same ones used during the June CNN debate between Trump and President Joe Biden. That debate used muted microphones, at the request of the Biden campaign.
But asked if he wants the microphones muted at the debate, Mr Trump said: “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter to me. I’d rather have it probably on, but the agreement was it would be the same as it was last time. In that case, it was muted.”
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The disagreement over the rules also comes after a Trump post on social media on Sunday night, where he wrote: “[W]hy would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?”
NBC News spokesman Stephen Labaton said the network has been and is engaged with both the Trump and Harris campaigns about the possibility of hosting a debate.
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Mr Trump had previously refused to debate Ms Harris unless it was on Fox News, before climbing down from his position and saying he would face her in three separate debates.
So far, only the ABC debate has been confirmed.
Thousands of people gathered in various cities across the US as protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk took place in all 50 states on Saturday.
Around 1,200 demonstrations were planned in locations including Washington DC, New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida – just miles away from where the US president has this weekend played golf.
The “Hands Off!” protests were against the Trump administration’s handling of government downsizing, human rights and the economy, among other issues.
In Washington DC, protesters streamed on the grass in front of the Washington Monument, where one person carried a banner which read: “Make democracy great again.”
Thousands gathered in Washington DC to rally against various Trump policies. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Another protester took aim at Mr Trump‘s handling of Russia and Ukraine, with a placard that read: “Stop Putin’s puppets from destroying America.”
Tesla boss Mr Musk also featured on many signs due to his role in controversial government cuts as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Demonstrators in NYC. Pic: AP
People marching in Atlanta, Georgia. Pic: Reuters
A rally in Vermont. Pic: The Brattleboro Reformer via AP
Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist, said she drove to the rally to protest Mr Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education”.
“I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is,” she added.
A drone view of the protest at the Utah State Capitol building. Pic Reuters
A protester sports a Handmaid’s Tale costume. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Some at the various protests carried Ukrainian flags, while others sported rainbow attire and waved rainbow flags in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Other protesters wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and carried “Free Palestine” signs.
Thousands marched in New York City’s midtown Manhattan and in Boston, Massachusetts, while hundreds gathered in the sunshine outside the Utah State Capitol building in Salt Lake City, and in the rain outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.
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Mr Trump – who shook financial markets with his tariffs announcement this week – spent the day in Florida, playing a round of golf before returning to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
People protest in Manhattan. Pic: Reuters
Activists in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Pic: AP
Some four miles from Mar-a-Lago, more than 400 people gathered – and drivers honked their horns in support of protesters who held up signs including one which read: “Markets tank, Trump golfs.”
The White House has said Mr Trump plans to go golfing again on Sunday.
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