LAST UPDATE | 12 Sep 2024

DONALD TRUMP HAS ruled out participating in a second debate against Kamala Harris. 

The announcement comes just two days after the US presidential candidates went head-to-head in a debate for the first time in Philadelphia. 

The bruising encounter saw the Democratic vice president force the rattled Republican former president onto the defensive in front of tens of millions of viewers.

But in a rally in the key swing state of North Carolina, Harris insisted that they should debate again before the 5 November election.

It wasn’t clear if she was aware of Trump’s statement.

“Two nights ago Donald Trump and I had our first debate and I believe we owe it to the voters to have another,” Harris said to cheers from supporters in the city of Charlotte.

“Because this election and what is at stake could not be more important,” added the Democrat, who heads to a second rally in Greensboro, North Carolina later today.

Meanwhile, her running mate Tim Walz is scheduled to debate JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, on 1 October.

The day after the debate, Trump said he “would do NBC and would do Fox, too.”

However, in a post shared on his Truth Social platform this evening, the Republican candidate wrote: “When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, “I WANT A REMATCH”.”

He claimed that polls showed that he had “clearly won the debate” against Harris, saying that she had “immediately called for a second debate”. 

A snap CNN viewers poll crowned Harris the winner of the debate at 63% to Trump’s 37%.

A YouGov poll showed that 54% of those surveyed said Harris won compared to 31% for Trump, while the Democratic candidate also surged ahead of her Republican opponent in the betting markets.  

The former US president added that all of the “problems caused by Kamala” and US president Joe Biden were “discussed in great detail” during his first debate against Biden and the second against Harris. 

“Kamala should focus on what she should have done during the last almost four year period. There will be no third debate!” he concluded, writing in all capital letters.

Both candidates are holding campaign events this evening. Harris will speak at two rallies in North Carolina, while Trump will speak in Arizona. 

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During the 90-minute debate earlier this week, Harris referred to Trump as “extreme” on more than one occasion and noted that military leaders had told her he is a “disgrace”.

She claimed world leaders laugh at him and dictators find him easy to manipulate “with flattery and favour”.

Trump in return labelled Harris a “Marxist”, “worse than Biden” and a “horrible negotiator”.

He also caused controversy by falsely claiming that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. 

When ABC News debate moderator David Muir debunked the claim to him, Trump insisted that he had seen “people on television say their dog was eaten.”

Haiti’s government has since condemned the “discriminatory remarks” made by Trump and repeated by other US Republicans.

The White House today condemned the debunked claims as “filth” and said they were endangering people’s lives.

“It is spreading filth that makes the lives of the communities that are being smeared here… it puts their lives in danger,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing.