Former director of strategic communications for the Trump 2020 presidential campaign Marc Lotter said Thursday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that former President Donald Trump had no reason to debate Vice President Kamala Harris because he was leading in the polls.

Host Ari Melber said, “Let me play exactly what Vice President Harris is saying about her openness to another debate.”

While campaigning, Harris said, “Join me on the debate stage. Let’s have another debate. There’s more to talk about, and the voters of America deserve to hear the conversations that I think we should by having.”

Melber said, “President Trump has publicly declined that offer. What do you say to people who wonder, given that he’s done multiple debates in prior elections and that has always been the tradition, why not do it? Second, is it an admission that he lost the last one, he didn’t think it worked for him?”

Lotter said, “He was willing to accept a debate on Fox and the Harris’ team declined that. I don’t see a reason why he needs to get back up on stage with her. He’s actually still ahead in this race. Kamala Harris is about 5 points back of where Joe Biden was at this time in 2020. And she’s three to four, maybe five points back in all of the key battleground states. She’s actually even polling worse than Hillary Clinton was at this point in 2016. So I think if you’re Donald Trump, you look at it, you see, I’m in the lead. Why do I want to give her another bite at the apple?”

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