Biden Calls for October 15 Town Hall Debate to be Rescheduled to Allow Trump to Appear

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called Thursday for the Commission on Presidential Debates to reschedule a planned town hall debate event to facilitate President Donald Trump’s in-person appearance.

“Joe Biden was prepared to accept the CPD’s proposal for a virtual town hall, but the president has refused, as Donald Trump clearly does not want to face questions from the voters about his failure on COVID and the economy,” Biden’s campaign said in a statement. “As a result, Joe Biden will find an appropriate place to take questions from voters directly on October 15th, as he has done on several occasions in recent weeks.”

“Given the president’s refusal to participate on October 15th, we hope the Debate Commission will move the Biden-Trump town hall to October 22nd, so that the president is not able to evade accountability,” the statement added. “The voters should have a chance to ask questions of both candidates, directly. Every presidential candidate since 1992 has participated in such an event, and it would be a shame if Donald Trump was the first to refuse.”

The commission had scheduled two more debates for Trump and Biden to face off at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on October 15, and at Belmont University in Nashville on October 22. It isn’t clear what would happen to the third event in the event the next one is rescheduled.

The commission announced early Thursday that it would make the second event virtual rather than in-person. Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo he wasn’t interested in participating in a virtual forum, saying, “I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate. It’s ridiculous.”