Biden Campaign Shuts Down Possibility of Third Debate With Trump: ‘The Debate About Debates Is Over!’
The Biden campaign has rejected the idea of participating in any additional debates with Donald Trump beyond the two they’ve both already agreed to, according to NBC News.
On Wednesday, both Joe Biden and Trump agreed to participate in two debates, one hosted by CNN and the other by ABC News.
By Friday, Trump was pushing the Biden camp to agree to a third debate hosted by NBC News and Telemundo. Trump also accepted a debate on behalf of his still-unnamed vice presidential running mate.
“On behalf of the future vice president of the United States, who I have not yet chosen, we hereby accept the Fox vice presidential debate,” the Trump campaigned texted to Fox’s Bret Baier who announced Fox’s plan live on the air.
Vice President Kamala Harris has already accepted a debate offer from CBS News, but the Trump campaign has thus far eschewed that event in favor of the Fox proposal.
A Biden campaign official responded to the NBC News/Telemundo invitation, saying, “The debate about debates is over. No more games.”
In a statement Friday night, the Trump camp denounced Biden for turning down the third debate and dismissing “Hispanic voters.”
“The Telemundo/NBC debate would be widely watched by Hispanic voters, but Biden’s handlers are petrified to allow him to defend his disastrous record,” a campaign spokeswoman said. “Crooked Joe Biden is too ‘cobarde’ to address the Hispanic community and answer for his failures on the debate stage!”
“Cobarde” is Spanish for “coward.”
The agreed-to debates will be hosted by CNN in Atlanta on June 27, and by ABC News on Sept. 10, with the location still to be determined. Both campaigns agreed to the debates after skirting the traditional process of setting up debates through the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Read the NBC News article here.
