Trump refuses Harris call for October debate

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00:00The U.S. presidential election is now just six weeks away, and every Monday from now

00:04until Election Day, November 5th, we're going to check in with our Washington correspondent,

00:08Fraser Jackson, to get the very latest from the campaign trail.

00:11Fraser, welcome.

00:12It's very early there.

00:13Welcome.

00:14Good morning to you.

00:15There was a lot of talk about will or won't the two candidates go face to face in a new

00:19presidential debate after the one earlier this month.

00:23Kamala Harris says she wants the debate.

00:25How's that going down with the Trump campaign?

00:28Yeah, well, Kamala Harris accepting an invitation from CNN to hold a debate on October 23rd.

00:34Donald Trump, however, using his line once again that only a loser of the first debate

00:39would ask for a rematch and said at a rally on North Carolina on Saturday that he isn't

00:46actually up for a second debate.

00:50So instead, he is deciding to stay away from that kind of debate and said that basically

00:56his reasoning was because basically the voting has already started and that people are already

01:02going to the polls and therefore it's too late to go for a second debate.

01:06That was the reasoning Donald Trump sighs anyway.

01:09His reasoning, it must be said, not really holding water.

01:12There, of course, have been debates normally in normal election cycles this late into the

01:18game.

01:19Donald Trump himself, as Kamala Harris pointed out, at least her campaign points out, in

01:252020 took part in election debates that took place on the 22nd of October, so just a day

01:31before this one would take place, and also saying that Trump himself has never actually

01:36been somebody to care that much about early voting either.

01:40He's never, he's actually been somebody who's questioned the legitimacy of early voting

01:45and opened baseless claims that, in fact, early voting is more open to fraud than normal.

01:52So Donald Trump then staying away from the debate, Kamala Harris' headquarters, the campaign,

01:59reacting by calling him a chicken and posting videos of him where he praised CNN for their

02:04debate performance between him and Joe Biden.

02:07And it must be said that debate that we might look forward to on October 23rd would look

02:11the same as the debate that CNN did between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

02:15So we're talking about no studio audience, we're talking about potentially mics being

02:21closed while the other person comments.

02:24That was something that actually worked to Donald Trump's favor against Joe Biden, but

02:28didn't really work in his favor in the last debate against Kamala Harris.

02:33The debate would likely also favor Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, because realistically

02:39she's somebody who needs more of the national spotlight.

02:42A lot of the polls that we're seeing in those key undecided voters who are the ones who

02:46are going to decide this election, they say that they need to hear more from Kamala Harris,

02:51they already know who Donald Trump is, so it's arguably more in her favor and more in

02:56her interest to do this debate.

02:59But Donald Trump, again, is a showman, he's somebody who knows the value of television,

03:03somebody who always cares about his viewing figures, and the fact that the last debate

03:07was seen by just under 70 million people is likely something Donald Trump won't pass up.

03:13So for the moment he's saying he doesn't want to debate, but we'll see whether that changes

03:17within the near future.

03:19In news from the campaign over the weekend, Kamala Harris raised a lot of money and Donald

03:25Trump said or suggested that he wouldn't run again if he loses in November.

03:29Tell us about that.

03:30Yeah, he spoke to Free Measure, which is an online publication, and said that basically

03:39he wouldn't be running again if he loses in November.

03:42Of course, Donald Trump would be 82 years old if he did run again and decide to go ahead

03:48and run in 2028, but he says that basically he's not going to do that.

03:53But again, Donald Trump has been known to be somebody who changes his mind, so whether

03:56that does indeed happen, we'll remain to be seeing lots of what-ifs on that front.

04:02But the one sure thing really is that Kamala Harris' campaign is vastly out-raising and

04:08out-spending Donald Trump as well.

04:10We just got the latest filings for August with the Federal Elections Commission that

04:14show that Kamala Harris' campaign spent three times what Donald Trump spent but raised so

04:21much money that still grew its cash advantage over Donald Trump.

04:26Kamala Harris raised $190 million in August.

04:31Now, to compare that to Donald Trump, he raised just under $45 million and also Donald Trump

04:37spent more than he raised.

04:39Kamala Harris also spending big, well over $100 million of the money raised went on

04:44ad buys and those slick media advertisements that we are seeing run across many battleground

04:50states as well.

04:51But the Kamala Harris campaign also saying that although the cash advantage looks big,

04:56they also need to remember that Donald Trump has a lot of powerful political action committees

05:00standing behind him who have donors that have very deep pockets, so they're still painting

05:05themselves as the underdog in this fight as well.

05:09Kamala Harris' campaign outspent Donald Trump $174 million to $61 million in August, but

05:17despite that, she still ended the month with over $100 million more in the coffers than

05:22Donald Trump.

05:23And on Sunday, she continued to grow that cash advantage when she raised $27 million

05:30just in one day on Sunday at an event that is the largest single-ticket fundraising that

05:35we've seen from Kamala Harris since she took over the top of the ticket and there was also

05:39a massive spike coming back to the debate.

05:42In the wake of that September the 10th debate, we are learning that she earned $47 million

05:48for her campaign in the 24 hours after that debate.

05:51So therefore, another reason that Kamala Harris is likely wanting that debate to go ahead.

05:56But of course, the cash advantage needs to be converted to votes and that's what Kamala

06:00Harris is really hoping will happen here.

06:03She's hoping that big ticket spending will convert to votes, especially in key battleground

06:08states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

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