Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday morning that he won’t participate in the scheduled October 15 town hall debate, after President Donald Trump refused the virtual debate announced by the Committee on Presidential Debates earlier in the morning.
Biden instead will “find an appropriate place to take questions from voters directly on October 15.” Biden also said he hopes the committee, a nonprofit which produces the debates, will reschedule the debate for October 22, “so that the president is not able to evade accountability.”
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The third debate is currently scheduled to take place that day in Nashville, with NBC News’ Kristen Welker moderating.
“The voters should have the chance to ask questions of both candidates,” Biden said. “Every presidential candidate since 1992 has participated in such an event, and it would be a shame if Donald Trump was the first to refuse.”
Earlier on Thursday, the Committee on Presidential Debates said the town hall debate would be conducted remotely, with participants and moderator Steve Scully, a CSPAN senior producer and political editor, in Miami.
That news followed President Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis and hospitalization,. Shortly afterward, Trump told Fox Business he wouldn’t do a virtual debate.
“I’m not gonna waste my time on a virtual debate,” Trump said. “That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate? It’s ridiculous. And then they cut you off whenever they want.”
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