New York
CNN
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With former President Donald Trump ruling out any more presidential debates between now and Election Day, CNN changed course Thursday and invited both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to participate in town hall events with voters.

Harris immediately accepted the network’s invitation.

“Trump may want to hide from voters, but Vice President Harris welcomes the opportunity to share her vision for a new path forward for the country. She is pleased to accept CNN’s invitation to a live, televised town hall on October 23 in Pennsylvania,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.

The network said the town halls will take place before a live audience of attributable and undecided Pennsylvania voters.

“We continue to believe that the American people would benefit from hearing more from the two leading candidates for President of the United States and that is why CNN has invited both the Vice President Harris and President Trump campaigns to participate separate CNN Town Halls on October 23. CNN said in a statement Thursday.

The network previously proposed a debate between Harris and Trump in Atlanta on October 23. Harris quickly accepted the invitation, but Trump repeatedly shrugged it off, despite the Harris campaign’s efforts to push him to participate.

With CNN’s offer on the table and a Thursday deadline for a response looming, Fox News wrote to both campaigns on Wednesday offering to host its own debate in Pennsylvania on October 24 or 27. The Harris campaign probably would have said yes to that. also an invitation if the CNN deadline passed without a deal, according to a person familiar with the matter.

But on Wednesday night, Trump said very bluntly, “THERE WILL BE NO REMATCH” in a post on Truth Social.

The Republican candidate again claimed that he had “won the last two debates” and said he had accepted Fox’s previous invitation to a debate on September 4, which Harris did not accept, preferring instead to participate in the ABC-sponsored debate on September 10 .

Trump has also claimed it is “too late” for a rematch with Harris. In fact, CNN’s date proposal was in line with the closing debates of other recent election cycles.

On Thursday afternoon, after CNN’s deadline passed, the network said it was moving forward and wanted to hold town halls with both candidates.

The nation’s main Spanish-language network, Univision, will air its own town hall with Harris on Thursday evening and with Trump on October 16.

CNN’s Kate Sullivan and Samantha Waldenberg contributed reporting.