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US President Donald Trump declined to participate in the upcoming presidential debate after the independent commission overseeing logistics announced it would be a virtual-only event.
In an interview with Fox Business on Thursday, Trump described the decision of the Presidential Debate Committee as “ridiculous.”
“No, I am not going to waste my time in a virtual debate,” he said during a morning telephone interview, accusing the independent commission of “trying to protect [Joe] Biden ”. “Everybody is,” he said.
Trump also referred to Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris as a “monster” during the nearly hour-long interview, her first since she was discharged from the hospital on Monday after her coronavirus diagnosis.
[Washington correspondent Suzanne Lynch talked to foreign editor Chris Dooley about how the Covid-19 outbreak in the White House has upended the presidential election. To listen, click here]
But even as Trump appeared to reject the terms of the upcoming debate, which was announced by the commission “to protect the health and safety of all involved,” many Republicans privately questioned why the president was potentially missing an opportunity to reach the tens of millions of Americans, 17 days before the election.
The Trump campaign later in the day suggested that the second debate, which had already been planned as a “town hall” type event during which members of the audience in Miami would ask questions, should be rescheduled until October 22, the date of the third debate. . The final debate should take place on October 29, four days before the elections, the campaign suggested.
But the Biden campaign rejected this proposed schedule. “Donald Trump is not on the debate calendar, the debate committee does. We accept all three dates: September 29, October 15 and October 22, in June. Trump chose today to withdraw from the debate on October 15, ”said Biden’s deputy campaign manager.
Trump was diagnosed with coronavirus last Friday, but his medical team has refused to confirm when he last tested negative, leaving unanswered questions about when the president contracted the virus and how long it is likely to be infectious. Since then, several members of Trump’s inner circle have tested positive.
The president said during his interview that he was “feeling really good” and that he wanted to resume campaign rallies. “I don’t think it’s contagious at all,” he said.
In a video posted to his Twitter account late Wednesday, Trump touted the benefits of Regeneron, the drug he was administered at the hospital, claiming that it had “cured” him.
“I think it was a godsend to get it,” Trump said in the video, pledging to offer all Americans free doses of the drug, even though it has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Meanwhile, Harris joined Biden in the election campaign in Arizona on Thursday, a day after he faced Vice President Mike Pence in the only debate between the two before the election in Salt Lake City on Wednesday night.
Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, was criticized for removing her mask before joining her husband onstage at the end of the 90-minute debate, apparently failing to comply with the requirement that everyone present wear a face covering while inside the venue.
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