Trump, looking to reassert himself in 2024 race, dares Harris on debates and interviews

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Former President Donald Trump held his first news conference in more than a year Thursday, where he boasted of his willingness to talk to the press and challenged Vice President Kamala Harris to more debates.

“She can’t do an interview,” Trump said of Harris, speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort. “She’s barely competent.”

“She’s not smart enough to do a news conference,” he added.

With President Joe Biden out of the race, the entire tempo of the presidential race has shifted — at least on the Democratic side. Instead of an 81-year-old president cocooned by his staff, Democrats now have Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, who is criss-crossing the country and holding rallies at a more rapid pace than either party had earlier in this election.

Trump, however, has not changed his pace. Aside from the press conference Thursday, Trump’s big event this week is a rally on Friday in Montana, a state that is not in contention in November.

Trump tacitly acknowledged Thursday that he has started to slip in the polls, but he indicated no plan to change how he’s campaigning. Instead, he focused on hitting Harris for not doing more and said that people’s opinion of her would change once she gets more exposure. The criticism amounts to an acknowledgment that Harris has been controlling the narrative of the campaign for now without having to put herself into unscripted positions — and Trump is eager to end that portion of the 2024 race, which has seen Harris gain support, fill out her ticket and raise a boatload of cash.

“She’s a woman,” Trump said when asked to explain Harris’ rise in polls. “She represents certain groups of people, but I will say this, when people find out about her, I think she’ll be