Officials with Donald Trump’s campaign are peeved that Vice President Kamala Harris’ camp is trying to push for a second debate in October — arguing the Democratic nominee should join the former president in agreeing to a Sept. 25 showdown hosted by NBC News.
“They are unserious,” a Trump campaign spokesperson told The Post Thursday when asked about the stalemate.
“[Trump] has accepted 3 debates. They need to stop f—ing around.”
The 45th president initially expressed willingness to do debates with Fox News on Sept. 4 and ABC News on Sept. 10 in addition to NBC — but the veep’s crew only accepted the ABC debate, which had been previously agreed to by Trump and President Biden.
Trump, 78, conducted a town hall event in Pennsylvania with Fox News host Sean Hannity in lieu of the Sept. 4 debate, and plans a similar event with NBC News if the Sept. 25 forum doesn’t take place, The Post previously reported.
After Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia, which most pundits and poll respondents agreed Harris won, the Democratic campaign’s communications director Michal Tyler told The Post his side “certainly want another debate in October.”
“We’ve had initial conversations about a second debate and we hope that if Donald Trump is willing to show up again, there will be a second debate,” Tyler said.
“We have accepted a debate in September … why October?” the Trump spokesperson responded Thursday.
Another Trump spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, seemed more open to discussing an October debate, saying the campaign would be “absolutely” on board for talks while maintaining their preference was for a forum later this month.
“President Trump committed to three debates this election cycle. There’s only been one. Kamala Harris has only committed to one. We already committed to the NBC debate on the 25th,” Leavitt told The Post after the Tuesday debate.
Trump adviser Tim Murtaugh argued this week that the Harris camp wasi looking for another debate because “she knows she has more work to do.”
The former president himself has been the most tepid of his team about the chances of a second debate with Harris and third of the general election cycle.
“When you win, you don’t really necessarily have to do it a second time, so we’ll see,” the Republican nominee said Wednesday during a visit to Shanksville, Pa., to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
“I would do NBC, I would do Fox too, but right now we have to determine whether or not we ever want to do it.”
Republicans widely viewed the ABC debate as unfair to Trump, as moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis repeatedly jumped in to provide fact checks of the former president, but not Harris.
Harris’ team and NBC did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Post.
