On Oct 8, a day after the vice-presidential debate, The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced that the second presidential debate, scheduled for October 15 in Miami, will take place “from separate remote locations… to protect the health and safety of all involved.”
Fifteen minutes after it was announced that the debate will be virtual, President Trump said in a phone interview with Fox Business Channel that the CPD did not inform his campaign before making this announcement.
The president said “No, I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. The commission changed the debate style and that’s not acceptable to us,” he continued, “I beat him in the first debate, I beat him easily.”
He went on to say that the CPD made this decision to help Biden, who he claims he beat last time and would beat in the second debate too. He accused the CPD of “trying to protect Biden,” and continued “Everybody is.”
Trump also talked about his health, saying him and his wife, Melania, are “feeling good, really good” and that he feels energetic enough to campaign again, but will not until his physicians deem him fit enough to.
After Trump announced that he would not be attending the debate because it is virtual, the CPD told the Associated Press that they will not be reversing their decision. The Biden campaign has scheduled a solo ABC News town hall for the night of the debate, indicating that the debate will no longer be happening.
It is unclear whether there will be another Trump-Biden debate at all. The third debate is scheduled for October 22, but it is not clear what the format will be and neither campaign has confirmed if they will be attending.
