US ex-president commits to multiple debates with VP

US ex-President Donald Trump has committed to debating Vice President Kamala Harris, stating he is "willing" to face her more than once.

The next debate, scheduled for September 10, will be hosted by ABC News, Caliber.Az reports citing Politico.

Trump has recently pushed for the debate to be hosted by the more conservative Fox News, calling ABC "a joke."

During a conference call with reporters on July 23, Trump confirmed he would debate Harris regardless of the hosting network and expressed a willingness to participate in multiple debates. He criticized ABC, claiming it favors President Joe Biden and Harris, but emphasized the importance of debating in a presidential race.

"I think if you're the Democrat nominee or the Republican nominee, you really have an obligation to debate," Trump said. Harris' campaign has not yet responded to a request for comment.

Trump and Biden had agreed to two debates: one on June 27, hosted by CNN, and another on September 10, to be televised on ABC. Biden’s poor performance in the June debate led top Democrats to pressure him to exit the race, which he eventually did.

Trump believes Harris would be "easier" to defeat than Biden, whom he described as "slightly more mainstream, but not much." However, the Trump campaign released a memo from pollster Tony Fabrizio on July 23 afternoon, suggesting that Harris would see a polling boost that could temporarily put her ahead of Trump in the surveys. "Given what has happened over the past couple of days and her impending VP choice, there is no question that Harris will get her bump earlier than the Democrat’s Convention," Fabrizio wrote. "And that bump is likely to start showing itself over the next few days and will last a while until the race settles down."

The Trump campaign’s conference call, which took place while Harris held her first campaign rally near Milwaukee, focused on immigration—an issue the former president plans to make central to his attacks against Harris. Milwaukee also hosted last week’s Republican National Convention.