Biden campaign shoots down Trump request for more debates, calling it a ‘distraction’
Former Vice President Joe Biden has committed to three already-planned debates against President Donald Trump in the fall while Trump’s team pushes for more debates earlier in the year.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign manager, said in a letter that Biden will participate in debates scheduled for Sept. 29, Oct. 15, and Oct. 22, The Washington Post reported. Biden’s vice presidential pick — who is not yet announced — will participate in the Oct. 7 debate.
“Joe Biden looks forward to facing Donald Trump in a multi-debate series that the American people have come to expect from their leaders; we hope that President Trump would not break that tradition or make excuses for a refusal to participate,” O’Malley Dillon said in the letter, according to CNN.
“No one should be fooled: the Trump campaign’s new position is a debate distraction,” she wrote.
Trump’s reelection campaign pushed last week for more debates, spearheaded by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Politico reported. Giuliani had a call with Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, and asked for a fourth debate and for debates before the early voting period, according to Politico.
“We want fair debates. We want them sooner, and we want a bigger schedule,” Parscale said last week, according to The Washington Post. “We also don’t want them up against football games competing for viewers. As many Americans as possible need to see the stark differences between the accomplishments and leadership of President Trump and the failed record and sleepiness of Joe Biden.”
Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, responded to the Trump campaign’s push for more debates, The New York Times reported. “But there’s a catch: He’ll only do it if he can pick the moderators,” she said. “We are not going to ride the roller coaster of the ever-changing Trump campaign position on debates, nor are we going to be distracted by his demands.”
Earlier this year, Trump said he was considering sitting out the general election debates if the moderator and process wasn’t “fair,” according to The Washington Post.
Trump previously slammed the debates for being unfair when he was debating then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.
A Gallup poll from October 2016 showed that 60% thought Clinton won the third debate between the two while 31% said Trump did.
Trump blamed a “defective mic” after the first debate and the Commission on Presidential Debates said there was a “technical malfunction” that impacted his “sound level” during the debate, according to The New York Times.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Biden campaign shoots down Trump request for more debates, calling it a ‘distraction’."