The second debate between Biden and Trump will be virtual, says the commission; president says he will not participate | 2020 U.S. elections

However, Trump stated that refuses to participate in a virtual debate. He gave a telephone interview to a Fox TV show.

“I am not going to waste time with a virtual debate, that is not the idea of ​​a debate. You sit behind a computer and debate, it is ridiculous. This is not acceptable to us,” he said.

The president said he learned of the decision on Thursday, minutes before his participation in the television program by telephone. He accused the committee organizing the debate of trying to protect Biden.

Trump was diagnosed with Covid-19 last week. He was hospitalized on October 3 and returned to the White House on Monday.

On the day of his return, he said he was looking forward to a second debate with Biden.

In a statement, the commission said the second debate would take the form of a meeting with voters. Candidates will participate in remote and distinct locations. The text cites the health and safety of everyone involved as one of the reasons for the format.

The plan is for the moderator, Steve Scully, to lead the debate at a convention center in Miami. Voters in the southern region of the state of Florida will ask the candidates questions.

The first debate between the two candidates took place on September 29. The confrontation was marked by accusations of interruptions between the two.

Speaking a lot from the beginning, Trump barely gave his opponent space, even interrupting the moderator and making it difficult to allocate time.

An irritated Biden even asked Trump to shut up so he could say, “You wanna shut up, man?”

Debate broadcast in 1960

This will not be the first debate in which the candidates for the US presidency are not in the same place: in 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon met via broadcast (one of them was in a study of the New York City, and the other in Los Angeles).