Trump Seeks Earlier Debate With Biden as Voting Set to Begin

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is seeking a fourth debate with Democrat Joe Biden, or for one of the three planned debates to be held earlier, as voters prepare to begin casting their ballots.

In a statement Wednesday, the Trump campaign acknowledged that three debates have already been set, but invoked the coronavirus in calling for Trump and Biden to meet early in September, instead of the first scheduled debate on Sept. 29. Trump, behind in the polls, is eager for debates before early voters begin returning mail-in ballots.

“For a nation already deprived of a traditional campaign schedule because of the Covid-19 global pandemic, it makes no sense to also deprive so many Americans of the opportunity to see and hear the two competing visions for our country's future before millions of votes have been cast,” Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani wrote in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said that while the former vice president has agreed to the three scheduled debates, Trump has not.

“Joe Biden will be there,” he said in a statement. “We await Donald Trump's decision -- and perhaps the president should put as much time into managing COVID as does into this.”

The Trump campaign suggested two dozen potential moderators, including Bret Baier, Harris Faulkner and Bill Hemmer of Fox News, Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business, CBS's Norah O'Donnell and Bloomberg Television's Kevin Cirilli. Biden's campaign said Trump was trying to “insert his choice of friendly moderators.”

Among others listed by Trump was Hugh Hewitt, a conservative radio personality who published an opinion piece in the Washington Post earlier this month making the case for the president's re-election.

The campaign also urged the commission to prepare backup plans, such as a studio format with no audience, in case of virus outbreaks at any of the three debate locations.

Trump and his campaign have criticized Biden for keeping a low profile and accused him of avoiding the scrutiny of a more typical campaign schedule.

“For Joe Biden, it's ducking and hiding,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said on a phone call with supporters Wednesday. “His latest duck is hiding behind the debate commission's outdated schedule.”

Stepien said he expects at least half the votes to be cast before Election Day, with early ballots being sent to voters in North Carolina on Sept. 4.

“Why is our first debate scheduled on Sept. 29?” he asked. “It makes no sense.”

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