Former US President Donald Trump has signalled his readiness to throw down the gauntlet to news editors and politicians to debate him in public over alleged voter fraud during the 2020 US presidential election.
In a statement published on the Twitter page of his spokeswoman Liz Harrington, Trump wrote that "if anyone would like a public debate on the facts, not the fiction, please let me know. It will be a ratings bonanza for television!"
While he did not specify who he would like to debate, the ex-POTUS noted that he is "willing to challenge the heads of the various papers or even far left politicians, who have perpetuated the Real Big Lie" regarding the 2020 election results.
"This includes members of the highly partisan Unselect Committee of Democrats who refuse to delve into what caused the January 6th protest — it was the Fake Election results!", Trump argued.
He was referring to the events on 6 January 2021, when hundreds of Trump supporters besieged the US Capitol in a bid to prevent Congress from certifying the results of what the 45th president slammed as "the most corrupt elections" in American history.
Five people died during the riots, and dozens more were injured, including at least 138 police officers. Law enforcement authorities have arrested about 600 individuals who took part in the Capitol riots, charging some of them with assaulting federal police officers.
Trump along with his supporters continue to question Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election even though the former POTUS camp's previous lawsuits alleging voter fraud in a host of states, including Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, have failed to prove anything.
Even so, Trump called for a vote recount in Arizona's second-most populous area, Pima County, last month, and most recently, he made the voter fraud claims during an interview with MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindel.
The former US president voiced approval for Lindel’s plan to melt down Dominion voting machines and turn them into prison bars. "That's very interesting. That's a very good idea", Trump said.