Just days before the ABC News presidential debate, former President Trump slammed the network and several of its prominent employees.
President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will face off for the first time in a debate moderated by ABC News in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
But at a press conference on Friday, Trump described ABC as “very hostile territory” for him and suggested ABC would give preferential treatment to Harris because of her relationships with executives.
“I will soon be entering very hostile territory in a debate with ABC's George Slopodopoulos. [sic] And that group. And I think ABC is the worst of any of them. The worst, the worst. The absolute worst,” he said. “Worse than NBC. That's pretty bad on its own.”
Former US President Donald Trump (right) and members of his legal team attend a press conference at Trump Tower in New York, USA, Friday, September 6, 2024. (Cheney Oh/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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President Trump is suing ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation after the ABC News host falsely stated on-air multiple times during a March 10 interview with Rep. Nancy Mace that “President Trump has been found responsible for rape.”
On Friday, Trump also criticized other aspects of the network ahead of the debate, saying, “The reason I'm doing this is because it's the only one.” [Kamala] “Her best friend is the head of ABC or ABC News, and her husband's best friend is married to that person, so she would.”
Dana Walden, a senior Disney executive whose firm includes ABC News, is one of Harris' “special friends.” According to According to a New York Times report, Walden and Harris have known each other since 1994, while her husband, Matt Walden, has known Doug Emhoff since the 1980s.
Trump also said, “We have Donna Brazile here. Remember the famous Donna Brazile? She asked Hillary Clinton a question, remember? That was kind of embarrassing. I think she got fired for it. But she works for ABC now.”
Former President Trump is suing He sued ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation. (Left: Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Right: (Photo: Jose Pérez/Bauer Griffin/GC Images))
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In 2016, emails were leaked that showed then-Democratic National Committee chair and CNN contributor Donna Brazile had given debate questions to Hillary Clinton's campaign in advance, despite Brazile's consistent claims to the contrary. CNN released a statement shortly after the emails were made public, announcing that Brazile had submitted her resignation and that the network had accepted it days after allegations that Brazile had leaked information to the Clinton campaign first surfaced.
Trump said he thinks the networks will give Harris an advantage but that he expects she will outperform him in the debates.
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“So I decided to do it anyway because even if she knew the answers and the questions, I don't think it would serve her very well,” he said. “This is not what our country wants and I feel an obligation to do it. And she'll never be standing here like this and holding a press conference and talking about what's going on with the weaponization of our justice system.”
Fox News' Kendall Teets and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
