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US President Donald Trump promised on Thursday (local time) not to participate in next week’s debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden after organizers announced that it would take place virtually due to the diagnosis of the president of Covid-19.
“I’m not going to do a virtual debate” with Biden, Trump told Fox News, moments after the Presidential Debate Committee announced the changes due to Trump’s diagnosis.
That casts serious doubt on whether the event will continue, even as Biden’s campaign promised that its candidate will participate.
Patrick Semansky / AP
US President Donald Trump, left, and former Vice President Joe Biden clashed in their first presidential debate in late September.
“Vice President Biden looks forward to speaking directly to the American people,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.
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It’s further evidence that race is still defined by the virus, even as Trump has tried to downplay it.
The announcement by the nonpartisan Presidential Debate Commission cited the need to “protect the health and safety of all those involved in the second presidential debate.” The candidates will “participate from separate remote locations” while the participants and the moderator will remain in Miami, he said.
The announcement came a week before Biden and Trump were scheduled to meet in Miami.
Trump was diagnosed with the coronavirus a week ago and, in a Tuesday tweet, said he was looking forward to discussing Biden on the Miami stage: “It will be great!” tweeted.
Alex Brandon / AP
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has Covid-19.
Biden, for his part, said he and Trump “shouldn’t have a debate” as long as the president remains positive for Covid.
Biden told reporters in Pennsylvania that he was “looking forward to discussing it,” but said “we will have to follow very strict guidelines.”
Trump fell ill with the virus last Thursday, just 48 hours after debating Biden in person for the first time in Cleveland. While the two candidates stayed a dozen feet apart during the debate, Trump’s infection raised health concerns for Biden and sent him to undergo multiple Covid-19 tests before returning to the election campaign.
Andrew Harnik / AP
Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis sparked fears for the health of former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate.
Trump was still carrying the virus when he was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Monday, but his doctors have not provided any detailed updates on his status. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19 can be contagious for up to, and must be isolated for at least 10 days.
It is not the first debate in which the candidates are not in the same room. In 1960, the third presidential debate between Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy was broadcast with the two candidates on opposite shores.
