Trump again says ABC News is unfair and leaves open the possibility of withdrawing from the debate

Former President Donald Trump again attacked ABC News, continuing to lay the groundwork for a last-minute withdrawal from the next debate, saying the network was unfair and employed “terrible” journalists.

“ABC is probably the worst in terms of fairness,” Trump said during a friendly interview with Fox News’ Mark Levin that aired Sunday. “George Flopadopoulos, the people they have are just awful, Jonathan Karl.”

The next presidential debate will take place on September 10 in Philadelphia. Trump will face Vice President Kamala Harris for the first time. It will be her first appearance in a debate since she won the Democratic nomination. Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis will moderate the debate.

Trump has repeatedly hinted he might withdraw from the face-off as it draws closer. Late last month he said ABC was “fake news” riddled with a “group of Trump haters.” And previously he said the network was “very biased” while complaining it had already spent “time and money” challenging President Joe Biden, who dropped out of the race and instead supported his vice president.

Trump said later Sunday on Truth Social that he looked forward to challenging Harris on the debate stage after officials said that among those found dead this weekend was an Israeli-American hostage captured during the Oct. 7 attack in Israel.

“The hostage crisis in Israel is only happening because Comrade Kamala Harris is weak, ineffective and has no idea what she is doing,” Trump wrote. “I look forward to seeing her at the debate!”

As of last week, the two candidates were still arguing over the rules of the debate. However, ABC recently told both campaign teams that there would be no live audience, microphones would be muted when a candidate was not speaking, and no pre-written notes would be allowed. Harris’ campaign had lobbied hard for microphones to remain on throughout the event to allow for “substantive exchanges between the candidates,” though her team says those discussions will continue.

Trump told Levin on Sunday that he enjoys debating and has “won a lot of debates” in the past, “otherwise I wouldn’t have been president.” He continued to lament his recent performance, which was a catalyst for Biden’s exit from the race.

“I think I did a very good job,” Trump said of his performance in June. “And maybe I did too good a job.”