Mr Stepien, the president’s campaign manager, initially carried out a violent attack on the commission on Thursday, calling its members “swamp monsters” and calling the transition to a virtual debate “pathetic”.
“The safety of everyone involved can easily be achieved without the voters losing the opportunity to have both candidates compete against each other,” Stepien said in a statement. “We’re going to pass this sad excuse to save Joe Biden and hold a rally instead.” He also claimed that Mr. Trump “will have released several negative tests” prior to the debate, despite White House officials repeatedly refusing to provide details about Mr. Trump’s current health.
The president has not yet tested negative for the virus.
Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox Business that he learned about the switch to a virtual format on Thursday. However, there were indications that members of the President’s Circle were informed on Wednesday of the Debate Commission’s deliberations on a virtual debate.
The President also tried repeatedly to undermine the integrity of the Debate Committee. He accused the scheduled moderator of the next debate, Steve Scully of C-SPAN, of being a “Never Trumper” without providing evidence to support his claim. He said the first debate host, Chris Wallace of Fox News, “was a disaster” that Mr Biden preferred. And he said the commission’s plan for a remote matchup was “to protect Biden”.
Indeed, having a presidential debate with candidates in different places is not unprecedented.
In 1960 the third remote debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon took place. Kennedy debated in a television studio in New York; Nixon appeared from Los Angeles, and the men were filmed on two identical sets. The moderator for this debate, Bill Shadel of ABC News, directed the proceedings from a third studio in Chicago.
How to safely stage a few personal indoor debates between Mr Biden and Mr Trump, who tested positive for the coronavirus last week and spent three days at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, has been the subject of intense discussions among the board members of the Debate Commission in the last days.
Mr Trump’s advisors had spoken privately about the notion of open air debates, but those familiar with the Commission’s deliberations said the Trump campaign never officially proposed the idea.
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