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The president’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said Trump was “committed to debating Joe Biden regardless of last-minute rule changes.” But he also accused the commission of adopting the microphone rule to help Biden, as part of a multi-day effort by the Trump campaign to undermine the integrity of the commission and paint it as biased toward the Democratic nominee.
Early Monday, Stepien, who derisively referred to the nonpartisan commission as the “Biden Debate Commission” in a tweet, claimed that the commission had “promised” that Thursday’s debate would be on foreign policy and asked that it be dropped. all six topics announced last week by the moderator, Ms. Welker. (Topics are the coronavirus, climate change, national security, leadership, “American families” and “race in America.”)
In fact, the organizers of the debate did not announce such a plan to focus on foreign policy, saying that the third debate would reflect the format of the first, with six topics selected by the moderator. (It is true that in some years of the campaign, the third presidential debate has focused on foreign policy).
A Biden spokesperson, TJ Ducklo, said Monday that Stepien had sent the letter “because Donald Trump is afraid of facing further questions about his disastrous response to Covid,” adding: “The campaigns and the commission agreed months ago that the moderator I would choose the topics from the debate. “
Stepien’s letter makes no mention of Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations that Welker, a respected White House correspondent, is biased. Trump’s aides, including top aide Jason Miller, have previously spoken enthusiastically about Ms Welker, calling her “a very good choice” to oversee the debate.
The debate committee has had a tumultuous year. His attempt to hold a virtual debate in Miami about coronavirus concerns led Trump to withdraw; that debate was eventually canceled, and the candidates held separately televised town hall events.
Alan Schroeder, an emeritus journalism professor at Northeastern University who wrote a history of presidential debates, said Monday that the microphone change “sounds good in theory, but I don’t see it as a solution to the problem.”
