Trump says it’s ‘too late’ after Harris agrees to Oct. 23 debate on CNN

Donald Trump quashed the prospect of another presidential debate on Saturday, saying it’s “too late” for a rematch with Vice President Kamala Harris after she agreed to an Oct. 23 debate hosted by CNN.

“It’s just too late,” Trump told rallygoers in Wilmington, North Carolina. He added that “voting has already started,” which is true for a handful of states like Minnesota, South Dakota and Virginia that offer early in-person voting.

“She’s done one debate, I’ve done two, it’s too late to do another,” he said. “I’d love to, in many ways, but it’s too late, the voting is cast, the voters are out there.”

Meanwhile, in Leesport, Pennsylvania, Trump’s running mate JD Vance said he’d be open to a second debate with Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, moments after Trump said it is already too late for more debates. Vance and Walz are scheduled to have their first debate on Oct. 1.

The former president’s comments come after Harris goaded her opponent to accept another face-off, writing on social media platform X: “I will gladly accept a second presidential debate on October 23. I hope @realDonaldTrump will join me.”

The debate, hosted by CNN, would take place at the network’s studios in Atlanta — an echo of the June showdown between Trump and President Joe Biden that proved disastrous for the president and ultimately precipitated the end of his reelection campaign and endorsement of Harris. The proposed debate would follow similar guidelines to the June debate, with candidates responding to questions for 90 minutes without a live audience.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung indicated that the former president would not accept the debate proposal, referring POLITICO to previous comments Trump made on his social media platform Truth Social. In a Sept. 12 post, two days after Harris and Trump debated for the first time, he asserted: “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”

Before his comments in North Carolina, the Republican nominee took to Truth Social and posted an edited clip of Harris saying “being a bitch” and laughing, which has previously made the rounds among the MAGA circuit. The soundbite is from a 2010 keynote speech she gave at a Women in Leadership Conference at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where she told the crowd “When we take on these positions of leadership, and as a woman, there is a balance to be struck between being tough and being a bitch.” Trump replayed the edited clip at his Saturday rally.

Since the Sept. 10 debate — which was widely billed as a success for Harris and a low point for Trump — members of the Trump team have given mixed signals on his willingness to appear for a second round, with both senior adviser Jason Miller and RNC co-chair Lara Trump suggesting the former president might be open to another bout of sparring with the vice president. On Sept. 11, Miller told CNN the Trump campaign had already committed to a debate with NBC on Sept. 25, though it’s unclear if that is still the case.

By contrast, the Harris campaign has been pushing for a second debate since the close of the first. At a rally shortly after Trump’s Sept. 10 announcement, Harris said the candidates “owe it to voters to have another debate,” a message her campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon echoed in a statement Saturday.

“The American people deserve another opportunity to see Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they cast their ballots,” O’Malley Dillon wrote, adding that only giving voters one presidential debate before polls open would be “unprecedented in modern history.”

Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.