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Trump campaign slams plan to change debate rules after unruly Cleveland encounter

Published 10/01/2020, 03:53 PM
Updated 10/01/2020, 10:00 PM
© Reuters. U.S. President Trump arrives on campaign travel at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey

© Reuters. U.S. President Trump arrives on campaign travel at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, New Jersey

By Jason Lange and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's re-election campaign on Thursday rejected calls for new rules to govern the next two debates between him and Democratic challenger Joe Biden but said the president planned on participating in the events.

Following Tuesday night's debate in Cleveland that saw Trump regularly interrupt and talk over both Biden as well as the moderator, the presidential debates commission said it would adopt changes to allow for a "more orderly discussion." The next debate is scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami.

There was immediate speculation that could include a mute button to limit the interruptions that plagued the initial encounter between Trump and Biden.

"We don’t want any changes," Trump senior campaign adviser Jason Miller said on a conference call with reporters.

He added Trump plans to attend the second and third debates ahead of the Nov. 3 election. But campaign officials did not respond to a question about whether the president would agree to abide by the existing rules.

"Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third Debates when I easily won last time?" Trump asked in a tweet on Thursday.

Both campaigns agreed to the rules of Tuesday's debate, which had envisioned six 15-minute sections in which each candidate had two minutes to answer a question without interruption before beginning a back-and-forth.

The face-off on Tuesday triggered widespread criticism of Trump and, to a lesser extent, Biden. The Republican president repeatedly bullied Biden and questioned his intelligence, while the Democratic nominee called Trump a racist, a liar and the worst president ever.

In a statement on Wednesday, the debates commission said it would announce changes to the debate format soon.

Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said the former vice president would participate in upcoming debates under the rules laid out by the debates commission.

"The only real question left is whether the President will start following the rules in the next two debates," Bates said in an email.

BIDEN MAINTAINS POLL LEAD

With little over a month to go before the election, the two candidates are fighting for the small slice of the electorate that remains undecided, with a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showing most voters have already made up their minds.

Biden leads Trump in most national opinion polls, but the polls also show that the two are neck and neck in several states that could determine the winner of the contest.

In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted nationwide from Tuesday through Thursday, 50% of likely voters said they were backing Biden, while 41% said they were voting for Trump. Four percent said they were voting for a third-party candidate and 5% were not sure. Eighty-seven percent of likely voters said they were now "completely certain" about their choice for president, according to the poll.

The campaign is playing out against disputes over mail-in balloting during the coronavirus pandemic. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, charged two conservative political operatives with felonies on Thursday for allegedly trying to discourage people from voting by mail.

Nessel's office said the two men were behind computerized phone calls to nearly 12,000 people in Detroit and other urban areas, in which a recording made false claims that people who voted by mail could be subject to more scrutiny by police and by credit-card companies seeking payment.

Trump has said repeatedly without evidence that a shift to universal mail-in voting would lead to fraud in the November election. Millions of Americans have cast absentee ballots by mail for years without such problems.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A combination picture shows U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden during the first 2020 presidential campaign debate, in Cleveland

More than 2 million voters have already cast ballots, with a surge of early and mail voting expected this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Latest comments

If they don’t change the rules and make it less of a 3rd grade name calling fight, I’m not tuning in.
you will be missed.... psych!
Donald, why are you crying?
"Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third Debates when I easily won last time?" (Really??) :))
lol... someone call Mensa ...
"Antifa is an idea." Biden is really diRrTbAg.
“Be careful with those guys”
No it only targets conservative whites. Not racist, right?
Wow.. how did any of you graduate High School. Sad.
A mute button does the job in lots of debates. There is no need to change any rule.
If Biden can't stand up to Trump, and if he does business as usual by not answering tough questions about his son banking on his dad's name and position, he's simply not up for the tough challenges that face America, the greatest of which are the cultural Marxists in his own party out to destroy capitalism.
 He did answer, the answer was that he did not receive such payouts. If you don't like the answer, then you have your answer as to why your upset. If Hunter got paid illegally, where is the jail time? Where's the investigation? Surely Trump could start an investigation if he had a slam dunk case no? Or is he trying to get Biden to admit it at the debate?
investigation is coming.
another of trumps failures:Trump set to defy task force recommendations with Wisconsin rallies By Betsy Klein, CNN Updated 4:39 PM ET, Thu October 1, 2020 President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Atlantic Aviation on September 22, 2020, in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. (CNN)President Donald Trump is expected to again defy recommendations from his own administration's coronavirus task force Saturday when he travels to Wisconsin for a pair of campaign rallies -- though at least one of his events has been moved after outcry from local officials. Trump had been planning to convene rallies at airplane hangars in La Crosse and Green Bay. But after calls to cancel from La Crosse's mayor, that event was moved to Janesville, which, the campaign claimed, had to do with a lease issue. Janesville is in a different region of the state and in a different media market from La Crosse. A Trump campaign official told CNN the change was not Covid-19 related. "We had a change of venue.
deny task force recommendations for the nursing home 97 year old's virus? Come on man....you know the deal
Trump 2020
My son Biden and my other son Trump with a different one belong in jail not Whitehouse. Both have committed enough crimes in first debate itself. how many more they will if allowed for longer
I'll agree that Biden, Obama, and those others who planned and carried out the multiply-failed coup against the President.
USA will be better off without either of the third class representatives.
debate commission must be fired and the two candidates sent to jail
say one sentence and shut up
That doesn't win you elections in 2020
each side can say one sentence at a time. not rant away lies unsubstantiated stuff that sway gullible viters
Real geo-political life is messy. Trump excels at staying focused on his goals despite setbacks, and wins for the citizens. The guy cares. Her didn't need, not want, the job but for impotent Republican, and incompetent, crooked Democrat, leaders that have spent decades screwing the country for personal gain.
make the debate sentence by sentence. not two minutes. problem here americanos lack brains on how to conduct debates
in any debate or conversation, you can never allow the other side get away for 2 long minutes
Flippy Dump is an unruly, unethical and rude attacker on civilized societies and peoples, do Republicans really have no other ways to promote their agenda, but have to rely on such a rogue?
Trump 2020. End the ra c i st and corr u pt left who by the way created the K x K x K. Dems have done nothing for us minorities
Bro, stop sniffing the glue and smoking the meth.
It's shocking that Americans are willing to elect a chaot. It should be readily comprehensible that a chaotic mind causes chaos at the expense of the nation's interests. It's bad enough that taxpayers' money will support this freeloader potus after office
It’s hilarious how republicans are blaming moderator for Donald doing terrible. Snowflakes
Rules what rule Trump has never abided by any rules.
Moderator is extremely liber al. How about replace him? He was terrible!
He was a far right FOX reporter, each debate is moderated by a different person. Wait til the next debate when the moderator will be a women, Trump will go ape.
Love it when Trump goes ape lol
I would not be surprised if he tore open his shirt and started beating on his chest!
It doesn't matter if his brain is quick and his mic is off.
He has a brain?
it's regulation because of Law and Order; Trump has nothing to fear. He will win because his brain is quick. The only thing, he might have a stroke on the scene.
I thought the moderator had too much power. Now they want to give him more. maybe they should make the moderator neutral and let the candidates shut the moderators mic off.
lol
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