Former President Trump on Wednesday railed against ABC News over its handling of his debate with Vice President Harris and signaled he may not be interested in attending another one before Election Day.
Trump phoned into “Fox & Friends” the morning after the debate, and he repeatedly attacked ABC for how it fact-checked his statements compared to Harris, at one point suggesting the network should have its broadcast license revoked.
“It was three to one. It was a rigged deal, as I assumed it would be,” Trump said.
“A lot of people are very angry about it. You know, you have corrupt news organizations. You have a lot of bad people. It’s amazing,” the GOP presidential nominee continued. “I think ABC took a big hit last night. To be honest, they’re a news organization, they have to be licensed to do it. They ought to take away their license for the way they did that.”
Trump took particular issue with the moderators for not pushing back on Harris’s characterization of his comments about the 2017 violence in Charlottesville, Va., and with how she described his claim that there would be a “bloodbath” if he loses in November, remarks he and supporters have said were referring specifically to the economy.
Republicans spent much of the aftermath of the debate attacking the moderators, arguing they disproportionately fact-checked the former president.
Harris repeatedly attempted to get under Trump’s skin during Tuesday night’s debate, often succeeding as the former president went on tangents about crowd size, President Biden and a conspiracy about migrants abducting pets in an Ohio town.
The vice president’s campaign quickly called for a second debate in October.
A CNN rapid poll found 63 percent of debate watchers said Harris won the night, compared to 37 percent who said Trump won.
Trump cited multiple social media polls in the Wednesday morning interview, including one posted by C-SPAN, that showed he fared better than Harris.
Asked if he would do another debate, the former president said he was “not inclined to.”
“I am not inclined to do it, because I won the debate by a lot,” he replied. “But I think we let it settle and let’s see what happens.”
Fox News wrote to both campaigns Tuesday night offering to host a debate on one of three dates in October in a swing state. But Trump indicated he would not be willing to attend such a debate if it were hosted by anchors Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, who have moderated previous presidential debates.
“I wouldn’t want to have Martha and Bret,” Trump said, instead saying he’d be open to a favorable opinion host like Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters or Laura Ingraham moderating. “Let’s give other people a shot. I didn’t think Martha and Bret were good last night.”
“Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade interjected to defend his colleagues moments later.
“Bret and Martha would do a phenomenal job,” Kilmeade said. “I think you would find them extremely fair.”