WASHINGTON – Donald Trump’s campaign is calling for more presidential debates between him and President Joe Biden and for the proposed face-offs to begin as soon as possible to give more Americans a “full chance” to see the candidates. they act before they vote.
“Although the Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced three presidential debates and a vice presidential debate for later this year, we are in favor of starting those debates sooner,” said Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita. letter Thursday.
By the time of the first potential debate, on Sept. 16, more than 1 million Americans will have already voted, Wiles and LaCivita said. At the third debate on Oct. 9, the campaign predicted that number would reach about 8.7 million. The second debate is scheduled for October 1.
With more Americans voting early, the proposed calendar “simply comes too late,” Trump advisers said.
Increasing the commission’s schedule “will ensure that more Americans have a full chance to see the nominees before they go to the polls, and we will argue for that. adds More discussions in addition to what is currently on the proposed schedule,” Wiles and LaCivita added.
They said the country “deserves” as many as seven presidential debates, citing the record turnout in the 1858 Illinois U.S. Senate race between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas.
Trump, who has declined to participate in any Republican primary debates, said he was ready to go head-to-head with Biden “anytime, anywhere, anywhere” starting “right now.”
The letter comes amid speculation about whether the candidates will participate in the traditional debate at all. Biden has not yet committed to debating Trump in the general election in March depends on the behavior.
Trump withdrew from the talks in October 2020 With Biden (Trump had Covid) after the commission changed it from an in-person debate to a virtual one. It was not rescheduled. Republican National Committee then voted in 2022 Opting out of commission-sanctioned debates by requiring candidates to give an undertaking that they will not participate in them.
Trump’s campaign is under attack a nonpartisan commission created by former RNC Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul Kirk to add “additional structure” to the debate. He accused the campaign commission of “cutting off” Trump’s microphone while on stage and “selecting an openly anti-Trump moderator.”
“Americans have been denied a real and robust debate in 2020,” Wiles and LaCivita said.
Trump has previously called for the start of the debate period against Biden, prompting the president to back down.
“If I were him, I’d want him to argue with me,” Biden quipped to reporters in Nevada recently. “He has nothing else to do.”