GREENVILLE, S.C. – Former President Donald Trump says he’s ready to face off with President Biden on the debate stage.
Trump, the commanding frontrunner for the 2024 Republican race, on Tuesday reiterated his call for Biden to debate him this year as the two move closer to a rematch of their 2020 presidential election face-off.
Asked by host Laura Ingraham during a Fox News town hall held in Greenville, South Carolina if he’ll challenge the president to a debate, Trump quickly answered “I’ll do it right now on your show. I’ll challenge him right now.”
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Former President Donald Trump sits for a town hall hosted by Laura Ingraham on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” on Feb. 20, 2024 in Greenville, South Carolina (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News )
And Trump, in his “Ingraham Angle” appearance in front of a live audience of several hundred people, added “I’ll take anybody,” as he referred to a debate moderator.
“I think you have an obligation in this case, you really have an obligation to debate, Trump emphasized. “As many as necessary. I could do it starting now.”
And Trump, pointing to Biden, argued “I don’t think he’s going to debate. I really don’t think so.”
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After Trump, who is moving closer to locking up the GOP presidential nomination as he runs a third straight time for the White House, earlier this month challenged Biden to debate, the president said “well, if I were him, I’d want to debate me, too.”
Speaking with reporters during a campaign stop in Las Vegas, Biden argued that Trump has “got nothing else to do.”
President Joe Biden gestures to the audience after speaking at a campaign event in North Las Vegas, Nev., Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
But the president, who tangled with Trump at two general election debates in the autumn of 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, has yet to say if he’ll take part in debates as he runs for re-election.
The former president, who skipped the five GOP primary debates, reiterated that “when you debate, you want to be smart. You don’t have to waste your time.”
Trump’s Fox News town hall comes four days before South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary, where the latest public opinion polls indicate he maintains a very large double-digit lead over former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, his last major rival for the GOP nomination.
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And Trump sat down for his town hall hours after his campaign, in a memo, argued that Haley’s White House bid would end “fittingly, in her home state” and that the former president would clinch the nomination by the middle of next month.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador, takes aim at former President Trump in a speech in Greenville, S.C. on Feb. 20, 2024 (Fox News Kirill Clark )
But Haley, in a speech in Greenville, South Carolina a couple of hours before Trump landed in the city, said that “some of you – perhaps a few of you in the media – came here today to see if I’m dropping out of the race. Well, I’m not. Far from it.”
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“I refuse to quit. South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere,” Haley emphasized.
And she added that “I have no fear of Trump’s retribution.”
Former President Donald Trump greets supporters after sitting for a town hall hosted by Laura Ingraham on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” on Feb. 20, 2024 in Greenville, South Carolina (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Asked about Haley’s comments, Trump said during the Fox News town hall that “you’re not supposed to lose your home state. It shouldn’t happen anyway and she’s losing it bigly.”
“I don’t think she knows how to get out,” Trump surmised. “She just can’t get herself to get out.”
And Trump reiterated that he’s ruled out Haley as his running mate.
