Despite wanting to agree to a second debate before their showdown on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump now says he is ‘less inclined’ to do another debate before Election Day.
Trump shared his post-debate thoughts on Wednesday morning while speaking with “Fox & Friends” over the phone.
The former president went after ABC News, saying the network repeatedly fact-checked his statements but did not do the same for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“It was three to one. It was a rigged deal, as I assumed it would be,” Trump said.
The Republican nominee went on to suggest that the integrity of ABC News would take a hit because of how the debate was handled.
“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,” Trump said. “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.”
The points that Trump said moderators did not push back on was Harris’s depiction of his comments about the 2017 violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, and how she described his claim that there would be a “bloodbath” if he lost in November.
Trump and his supporters have said that those remarks were regarding the economy.
A CNN rapid poll following the debate found that 63% of those who watched felt Harris won the night, compared to 37% who said Trump won.
The vice president’s campaign has since called for a second debate in October after saying prior to the debate that they would reevaluate after the first matchup.
However, when he was asked on Wednesday morning if he would take the stage for another debate, Trump didn’t seem as ready as he was beforehand.
“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.”