The Commission on Presidential Debates officially scrapped the planned Thursday debate between President Trump and Joe Biden.
“It is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15, and the CPD will turn its attention to preparations for the final presidential debate scheduled for October 22,” the commission said in a statement on Friday.
Cancellation of what was supposed to be the second debate between Trump and the Democratic presidential nominee came a day after the president said that he would not participate in a virtual version of the event. In response to the president saying he would not participate, Biden scheduled a town hall with ABC News for Thursday evening instead.
The commission did not show any sign of rescheduling the debate but indicated that the Oct. 22 debate will go on as planned.
“Subject to health security considerations, and in accordance with all required testing, masking, social distancing and other protocols, the debate will take place at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee,” the commission said. “As announced on June 23, the debate will be divided into six 15-minute segments. The topics for the six segments will be selected and announced by the moderator at least one week before the debate. Kristen Welker of NBC News will serve as moderator for the debate. Both candidates have agreed to participate in the October 22 debate.”
The debate commission announced Thursday that it would change next week’s scheduled town hall-style debate to a virtual format, “in which the candidates would participate from separate remote locations.” The decision, made by a unanimous vote of the commission’s members, came after the president tested positive for the coronavirus last week, just two days after he debated the Democratic presidential nominee, potentially exposing Biden to the virus.
Soon after, Trump declared that he was “not going to waste my time on a virtual debate.”
The announcement of the canceled debate also follows a tweet scandal over the debate’s planned moderator, Steve Scully of C-SPAN. After Trump attacked Scully for being biased and because he interned for Biden’s Senate office decades ago, a tweet from Scully directed at former short-lived Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci asked, “Should I respond to Trump.” The debate commission and C-SPAN later said on Friday that Scully’s account was hacked.
Biden’s campaign, hoping to showcase the former vice president connecting with voters in an expected contrast to Trump, proposed Thursday that the town hall-style debate format be pushed back a week to Oct. 22 if Trump refused to participate in a virtual version on Thursday.
That would conflict, however, with the Oct. 22 one-on-one event. Trump’s campaign suggested postponing both remaining debates a week: Move the Thursday debate to Oct. 22 and the Oct. 22 one to Oct. 29.
Biden’s team rejected that proposal. “Trump’s erratic behavior does not allow him to rewrite the calendar, and pick new dates of his choosing,” top Biden aide Kate Bedingfield said in a Thursday statement. “Donald Trump can show up, or he can decline again. That’s his choice.”
Both campaigns criticized the move by the debate commission to cancel the event entirely.
Trump’s campaign slammed the debate commission for forcing a virtual debate in the first place.
“There is no medical reason to stop the October 15 debate in Miami from proceeding as scheduled, since the President will be healthy and ready to debate. There is also no reason there shouldn’t be the three total presidential debates as Joe Biden had originally agreed. We have suggested using October 22 and October 29 to hold the final two debates. It’s time for the biased commission to stop protecting Biden and preventing voters from hearing from the two candidates for president,” said Tim Murtaugh, Trump 2020 communications director.
Biden’s campaign turned the blame on Trump.
“It’s shameful that Donald Trump ducked the only debate in which the voters get to ask the questions – but it’s no surprise. Everyone knows that Donald Trump likes to bully reporters, but obviously he doesn’t have the guts to answer for his record,” Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said.
Murtaugh gave the Biden campaign an option to schedule another matchup without the help of the debate commission: “There’s nothing that says that President Trump and Joe Biden can’t debate together without the overlords at the commission having a say in the matter. We would be glad to debate one-on-one without the commission’s interference.”
