President Biden intends to debate former President Donald J. Trump at least twice before the election, possibly as early as June. His campaign is rejecting the nonpartisan organization that has managed presidential debates since 1988, according to a letter obtained by New York. times.
The letter sent by the Biden campaign was the first to set out what President Trump had publicly demanded. In other words, they hope to make it public, portraying President Trump as too weak to hold on through a televised showdown with his successor. job. Mr. Trump quickly agreed to both dates proposed by the Biden campaign in a Truth Social post Wednesday morning, but it was unclear whether he would agree to Mr. Biden’s other terms.
Mr. Biden and his top aides want the debate to begin much sooner than the date suggested by the Commission on Presidential Debates, allowing voters to see the two candidates side-by-side long before early voting begins in September. They want the debate to take place inside a TV studio, where microphones are automatically turned off when a speaker’s time limit has elapsed. And they want it to be just the two candidates and a moderator, without the raucous in-person audience that Mr. Trump provides, and without the participation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or other independent or third-party candidates.
The proposal is a calculated risk for Biden to reverse his fortunes in a race in which the president is trailing Trump in most battleground polls and is struggling to persuade voters that he is an effective leader and economic steward. It suggests that you are willing to take the risk. .
President Trump has repeatedly declared that he will debate his successor “anytime, anywhere” and has called for as many debates as possible. Mr. Biden recently announced that he would debate President Trump, but has so far refused to make a firm commitment or give specific details.
The letter, signed by Biden’s campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and sent to the Commission on Presidential Debates, informs Biden that he will not participate in the three general election debates sponsored by the commission. They are scheduled for September 16th, October 1st, and October 9th.
It is an unconventional decision for Biden, an institutionalist who has tried to preserve Washington’s traditions.
Instead, Ms. O’Malley Dillon wrote in the letter that Mr. Biden would participate in a debate hosted by a media outlet. The move opens the door for Biden’s team and potentially Trump’s team to negotiate directly with the networks for a possible debate.
Biden mocked President Trump in a video announcing his proposal. “Have a nice day, buddy,” he said, referring to the weekdays when Trump’s Manhattan trial typically isn’t in session. “Let’s set a date, Donald. I heard that it is free on Wednesday.
In an insulting response, Trump said he wanted to see more than one debate and “a very large venue with an interesting purpose.” He called Mr Biden the ‘worst debater’ and a ‘crooked man’ and accused the president of being ‘afraid of the crowd’.
Ms. O’Malley Dillon proposed holding the first debate at the end of June after President Trump’s New York criminal trial is completed and Prime Minister Biden returns from the G7 summit with other leaders.
The second presidential debate “should be held in early September, at the start of the fall campaign season, early enough to influence early voting but not late enough to require candidates to hit the campaign trail in the critical late September and October period.” ” she writes.
The Biden camp also proposed holding a vice presidential debate in late July after President Trump and his running mate are officially nominated at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
For the president, early debates have a significant advantage. Early voting is especially important for Democrats. And polls show Mr. Biden is now trailing Mr. Trump and that his message on key issues such as the economy is not resonating with enough voters.
In the 2020 election, Democrats placed a heavy emphasis on early voting by mail as a safe alternative to voting in person during the coronavirus pandemic. Early voting gave Biden a decisive lead over Trump, who had told voters not to trust the mail and to vote only on Election Day.
President Trump and the Republican National Committee have been trying to undo that damage by directing Republicans to vote early this year.
“The committee’s failure to reschedule debates that are meaningful to all voters, not just those who voted in the late fall or on Election Day, highlights the serious limitations of the outdated approach,” Mr. O’Malley said. Dylan wrote in his letter:
In most battleground polls, including recent polls by The New York Times, Siena College and The Philadelphia Inquirer, Trump is ahead of Biden. Far more voters trust President Trump than President Biden to handle the economy.
The Biden campaign and the president’s White House staff widely feel that this debate was important in 2020 and will be important again this year.
The Biden campaign has been trying to remind voters why a majority voted to oust President Trump from office in 2020. People close to the president have said they are worried about what they call Trump’s amnesia. I forgot how divisive he was. And some of the latest polls highlight just that.
I believe that a parallel debate in which many viewers can participate is the most dramatic way for the Biden campaign to gain more exposure for President Trump.
In the first debate of 2020, President Trump barely allowed a single word from candidate Biden. He was aggressive, constantly interrupting, sweating and appearing unwell. An angry Biden asked President Trump, “Will you shut up? “This is so unpresidential.” And in the days following the first debate, President Trump’s poll numbers fell.
Top Trump campaign officials Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita see the situation differently and share their boss’s desire for him to debate Biden as often as possible. They have stated that they do not care who hosts the debate or where it takes place. The Trump campaign almost believes that Biden will decline significantly after 2020, which will be revealed in the debate with Trump.
Ms. O’Malley Dillon’s letter could spell the end for the venerable organization that has run presidential debates since the Reagan era. She said in her letter that the Biden campaign was “unable or unwilling to enforce the rules in the 2020 debates,” making it clear to the committee that she does not trust the organization to conduct professional debates.
Among other complaints about the committee, Biden aides remain outraged that Trump debated Biden in 2020, showed up prominently in inclement weather, and announced shortly after the debate that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. The Biden team was also outraged that members of the Trump family removed their masks when they arrived in the audience for the debate.
However, the Biden camp’s discussion proposal comes with conditions. And the decision to exclude the committee gives Mr. Biden a clear advantage. First, the Biden camp proposed limiting the number of debates to two, while the committee has already scheduled three presidential debates.
Biden campaign officials want the debate to be held in a television studio without an in-person audience who could cheer, boo and derail the conversation, as Trump supporters did at a CNN town hall last year. The Committee always invites its audience to watch presidential debates.
It’s also possible that Kennedy could reach the 15 percent national voting threshold to qualify for committee debates. The Biden campaign views Kennedy as a spoiler candidate, and people close to the president worry that the Kennedy name could draw support from voters who would support Biden.
Mr. O’Malley Dillon wrote in his letter that the debate should be one-on-one so that voters can “compare the only two candidates who have a statistical chance of winning the Electoral College.” “He has the potential to become president,” he said.
The Biden campaign has proposed rules, including automatic microphone cuts, to ensure that Trump exceeds time limits and does not talk about President Biden, as he relentlessly did during the first debate of 2020.
“There should be firm time limits for responses, and speakers should take turns, so that time is distributed equitably and there is an exchange of views rather than mutual interruption,” Mr. O’Malley Dillon said in the letter.
“The candidate’s microphone should only be activated when it is his or her turn to speak to promote compliance and orderly proceedings.”
The Biden campaign also proposed standards that would limit which television networks can host the debate. Ms. O’Malley Dillon wrote that only broadcast networks that hosted both the 2016 Republican primary debate with President Trump and the 2020 Democratic primary debate with President Biden should host it. “She can claim that the sponsoring organization is clearly unacceptable.”
Networks that meet that mark include CBS News, ABC News, CNN, and Telemundo.
And the debate moderator “must be chosen by the broadcaster from among the regular staff to avoid ‘ringers’ or partisanship,” Ms. O’Malley Dillon adds:
The lack of an audience could be a setback for President Trump, who has often played with crowds at debates and town halls, encouraged by their applause, jeers and jeers.
Nonetheless, the Trump campaign has been filing complaints against the commission for months.
In a May 1 statement condemning the organization, Mr. Wiles and Mr. LaCivita criticized the group for disagreeing with earlier discussions, given the fact that early voting begins well before Election Day.
“We need to get the debate going sooner than ever,” they said. “Again, we ask every television network in America wishing to host a debate to extend an invitation to our campaign, and we are willing to negotiate with the Biden campaign with or without a recalcitrant Commission on Presidential Debates.”
For decades, candidates from both parties have criticized the commission. In 2000, George W. Bush’s campaign attempted to design its own debate schedule but ultimately agreed to an organization-led debate.
In 2012, Republicans complained bitterly during a debate about a debate between their nominee, Mitt Romney, and incumbent President Barack Obama, when the moderator fact-checked Mr. Romney in real time.
In 2016, the Trump campaign fought the committee over the seating of four women in the Trump family at debates, three of whom accused former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton’s husband, of sexual harassment.
And in 2020, both the Trump and Biden teams struggled with committees. President Trump boycotted the scheduled second debate, and the organization decided to make it a virtual event.
In 2022, the Republican National Committee, which has no direct role in negotiating presidential debates with the committee, voted unanimously to bar the party’s candidates from debates with the organization.
Reed J. Epstein contributed to the report.
