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WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) – US President Donald Trump said he will not participate in the upcoming debate with Democratic candidate Joe Biden if it is held virtually as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.
“No, I am not wasting my time in a virtual debate,” Trump said in a telephone interview with Fox Business on Thursday (October 8). “That’s not what the debate is about.”
The Commission on Presidential Debates previously announced that the Oct. 15 forum in Miami, the second of three presidential debates, will be a town hall with participants appearing from remote locations.
The decision was made “to protect the health and safety of all those involved,” the commission said in a statement.
It comes after Trump was hospitalized with Covid-19 over the weekend and the White House reported that a dozen employees were infected with the virus, which has killed more than 210,000 people in the United States.
The Biden and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Moderator Steve Scully, political editor for C-SPAN, will be live from the planned location of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, and the commission says the White House press group “will provide coverage ”.
Trump tested positive for Covid-19 on October 1, two weeks before the next scheduled debate. He was hospitalized on Friday before returning to the White House on Monday.
The president’s doctor has said he’s feeling better but has declined to reveal key details since Monday, such as Trump’s specific vital signs, when he last tested negative, when he became ill, and whether he’s still receiving a steroid, dexamethasone. .
The virus has circulated widely throughout the White House.
Aside from Trump and the first lady, aides Hope Hicks, Nick Luna, Stephen Miller and Kayleigh McEnany tested positive, as did campaign manager Bill Stepien and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who helped prepare for the debate.
Trump is pushing to get back to normal, having gone to the Oval Office on Wednesday, despite still being in the active phase of the virus.
The campaigns had haggled over rule changes after the first debate, which was marked by a series of interruptions from Trump in particular. The campaign has said that Trump “intends to be ready to debate” by October 15, and opposed rule changes, such as a mute button that would allow moderators to cut off a candidate’s microphone.
The idea of candidates debating each other from separate venues is not new. In the third debate of the famous 1960 debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the candidates clashed at a distance with Kennedy in New York City and Nixon in Los Angeles.
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