Trump slams ABC ahead of pivotal network-hosted debate: ‘They’re the worst, they’re the nastiest’

Just days before the ABC News Presidential Debate, former President Trump scorched the network and some of its high-profile employees.

Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will face off for the first time on Tuesday in Philadelphia, in a debate moderated by ABC News.

But in a Friday press conference, Trump said ABC is “very hostile territory” for him, implying it will favor Harris because of her relationship with a senior executive.

“I’m going into very hostile territory shortly on a debate with ABC, George Slopodopoulos [sic] and that group. And ABC, I think, is the worst of everybody. I think they’re the worst, they’re the nastiest. They’re as bad as you can be,” he said. “They’re worse than NBC, which is saying a lot.”

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Trump is suing ABC News and George Stephanopoulos for defamation after the host incorrectly said several times on air that the former president was “found liable for rape” during a March 10 interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. 

On Friday, Trump also slammed other aspects of the network before the debate, saying “the reason I’m doing it is because that’s the only one that [Kamala] would do it with, because her best friend is the head of ABC or ABC News, and her husband’s best friend is married to that one.”

Dana Walden, a senior Disney executive whose portfolio includes ABC News, is one of Harris’ “extraordinary friends,” according to a report in the New York Times. Walden and Harris have known each other since 1994, while their husbands, Matt Walden and Doug Emhoff, have known each other since the 1980s. 

Trump also noted, “Donna Brazile is there. You remember the famous Donna Brazile? She gave Hillary Clinton the questions. You remember that? That was a little embarrassing. She got fired, I assume, for that. But now she’s working at ABC.”

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In 2016, a leaked email emerged showing then-Democratic National Committee boss and CNN contributor Donna Brazile sharing a debate question in advance with the Hillary Clinton campaign — despite Brazile’s persistent claims to the contrary. CNN announced in a statement soon after the email became public that Brazile had tendered her resignation and the network accepted it days after the controversy over Brazile tipping off the Clinton campaign initially broke.

Trump said even though he thinks the network will aid Harris, he will still outperform her at the debate.  

“So, I said I’ll do it anyway, because even if she knows the answers and knows the questions, I don’t think she’ll be very good,” he said. “And this is not what our country wants, and I feel I have an obligation to do it. And she’d never stand up here like this and give a news conference and speak about what’s happening with the weaponization of our justice system.”

Fox News’ Kendall Tietz and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.