A 2011 clip surfaced Thursday by CNN shows Donald Trump denigrating debate dodging candidates, and both presidential campaigns issued dueling responses — with Kamala Harris' team jabbing the former president using his own words for refusing to agree to a second debate.
CNN's KFile uncovered a Dec. 9, 2011, interview between Trump and Don Imus, a former host on Fox Business, in which Trump attacked some candidates for not having the "courage" to debate.
"I don't want to say who, but there are a couple of — " Trump begins to say.
"We know who, we know who they are," said Imus.
Trump said a couple of candidates called him and told him, "'Donald, I'm just too nervous to do it.' And I'm saying to myself, here's the guy that's supposed to negotiate, or a person that's supposed to negotiate against China. These guys come out of the womb. They never cry. You know, they're not even crying. And we have guys that are afraid to go into a debate."
ALSO READ: He’s a sociopath:' J.D. Vance has Congressional Democrats freaking out
Trump notably decided not to participate in any further presidential debates for the 2024 election cycle following his widely panned performance against Harris. Following that debate with Harris, he proclaimed on his Truth Social app: "THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!"
In response to CNN, the campaigns took differing opinions of Trump's comments — with the Harris campaign throwing his words back at him.
"You don't hear us say it very often, but he was right back then," said Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for the Harris campaign. "If you're too weak to share a debate stage with your opponent, you're too weak to lead the country."
The Trump team, on the other hand, took a different approach — they tried to write off his decision as one that was made by a victor.
"President Trump has already won two debates this election cycle and he's proven he is the best negotiator on the world stage," said Brian Hughes, a senior adviser for the Trump campaign.
Watch the clip below or at this link.