Moments after the organising committee said that the second US presidential debate will be virtual in nature, President Donald Trump said that he will not ‘participate’ in the virtual debate, which is scheduled for October 15, as per an AFP report.
US President Donald Trump told Fox Business News, “I’m not going to do a virtual debate,” and added, “not acceptable to us.”
He also accused the bipartisan debate commission of trying to “protect” his opponent Joe Biden.
The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates said that
the second presidential debate scheduled in Miami on October 15 will take the
form of a town meeting, in which the candidates would participate from separate
remote locations.
It said the decision has been taken in order to protect the
health and safety of all involved with the second presidential debate.
Trump, who claimed victory over Biden in the first
presidential debate, asserted that he expects to do the same in the Miami
debate as well.
“The commission changed the debate style and that’s not
acceptable to us. I beat him (Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden) in
the first debate, I beat him easily,” he said.
Trump alleged that the Commission and everybody is trying to
protect Biden.
Reacting to Trump’s remarks, Biden said, “I don’t know what
the president is going to do. He changes his mind every second. For me to
comment on that now would be irresponsible. I think that if I can follow the
Commission’s recommendations – if he goes off and has a rally, I’ll – I don’t
know what I’ll do.”’
Trump’s eldest son Donald J Trump Jr alleged that the
Commission unilaterally changed the format of the debate because of the
impressive performance of Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Senator
Kamala Harris at the vice presidential debate last night.
“Does anyone else find it awfully coincidental that the
morning after Mike Pence destroys Kamala Harris in a debate that the “debate
commission” unilaterally changes the format to obviously benefit Basement
Biden?” Trump Jr tweeted.
“How could the supposedly unbiased debate commission just
unilaterally decide to make it a virtual debate without even speaking to the
candidates before hand??? Sounds like a big load of crap to help Joe Biden…
it’s not like the moderator wasn’t already one of his interns!,” he alleged.
The Trump Campaign said the president would do a rally
instead of the debate.
“For the swamp creatures at the Presidential Debate
Commission to now rush to Joe Biden’s defence by unilaterally canceling an
in-person debate is pathetic. That’s not what debates are about or how they’re
done,” said Bill Stepien, Trump 2020 campaign manager.
Stepien said that Trump will have posted multiple negative
tests prior to the debate, so there is no need for this unilateral declaration.
“The safety of all involved can easily be achieved without
cancelling a chance for voters to see both candidates go head to head. We’ll
pass on this sad excuse to bail out Joe Biden and do a rally instead,” he said.
Biden’s campaign insisted that the Democratic leader plans
to address the countrymen directly.
“Vice President Biden looks forward to speaking directly to
the American people and comparing his plan for bringing the country together
and building back better with Donald Trump’s failed leadership on the
coronavirus that has thrown the strong economy he inherited into the worst
downturn since the Great Depression,” said Kate Bedingfield, Biden deputy
campaign manager.
The vice presidential debate between Harris and Pence saw
the duo sparring on Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, jobs, China,
racial tensions and climate change, less than four week’s ahead of the
election.
Wednesday night’s live debate at The University of Utah in
Salt Lake City was a civil one between the two leaders, separated by plexiglass
barriers, compared to last week’s showdown between President Trump and Biden,
which degenerated into insults and name-calling.
