Donald Trump rejects calls for rule changes in next presidential debate with Joe Biden
Posted 13 hours ago, updated11 hours ago
Donald Trump and Joe Biden trade insults in first US presidential debate.
US President Donald Trump has rejected calls to tweak the rules of his next two presidential candidate debates with Democratic challenger Joe Biden after a first match-up was marred by constant interruptions and outbursts.
But his campaign said it was still planning to turn up.
Key points:
Donald Trump claims to have won the first of three debates against Joe Biden
Campaign officials did not respond to a question about whether Mr Trump would agree to abide by the existing rules
Mr Biden leads Mr Trump in most national public opinion polls but the two are neck and neck in several states that could determine the winner
"Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third Debates when I easily won last time?" Mr Trump asked in a tweet on Thursday (local time).
On a call with reporters, Mr Trump's campaign also said it did not want changes to the debates.
"We're ready to move on to the second and third debates," campaign communications strategist Jason Miller said.
Campaign officials did not respond to a question about whether Mr Trump would agree to abide by the existing rules.
The moderator of Wednesday's debate, Fox News's Chris Wallace, interrupted proceedings several times to ask the President to follow the rules.
Reflecting on the event on Fox News, Mr Wallace said the President "bears the primary responsibility for what happened".
Biden isn't backing away from the debates either
Despite questions from pundits in the immediate aftermath of the debate, Joe Biden's campaign has confirmed multiple times that the Democratic nominee intends to show up at the remaining debates.
Mr Biden's 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," Mr Bates said in an email.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden hurled his fair share of insults at America's current leader during the first election debate.(Reuters: Brian Snyder)
Both candidates' campaigns agreed to the rules of Wednesday'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.
In a statement the day after the event, the debates commission said it would announce changes to the debate format soon.
The Commission on Presidential Debates said it would adopt changes to allow for a "more orderly discussion", but did not say what specific changes it was considering. There was immediate speculation changes could include introducing a mute button to limit interruptions.
At the top of their wish list was a fourth debate, scheduled in September. The campaign argued that with the pandemic forcing more voters than ever to vote early, a September debate would allow them to hear from the candidates before ballots were cast.
The letter, from Mr Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, also included a list of 24 suggested moderators.
Responding the the letter, the commission rejected the request for an extra debate and said it would follow "our longstanding procedure of selecting debate moderators".
"The commission has found that three 90-minute debates work well to fulfill the voter education purposes the debates are intended to serve," it said.
The next presidential debate is scheduled for October 15 in Miami, Florida, ahead of the November 3 election.
It will be a town hall style format, with questions asked by undecided voters rather than a single moderator.
The single vice-presidential debate of the campaign will be held next Thursday AEST.
There have been no requests for changes to the debate between Vice-President Mike Pence and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris, which is scheduled to follow a similar format to the first presidential debate.
ABC/Reuters
Posted 13 hours ago, updated11 hours ago
Donald Trump and Joe Biden trade insults in first US presidential debate.
US President Donald Trump has rejected calls to tweak the rules of his next two presidential candidate debates with Democratic challenger Joe Biden after a first match-up was marred by constant interruptions and outbursts.
But his campaign said it was still planning to turn up.
Key points:
Donald Trump claims to have won the first of three debates against Joe Biden
Campaign officials did not respond to a question about whether Mr Trump would agree to abide by the existing rules
Mr Biden leads Mr Trump in most national public opinion polls but the two are neck and neck in several states that could determine the winner
"Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third Debates when I easily won last time?" Mr Trump asked in a tweet on Thursday (local time).
On a call with reporters, Mr Trump's campaign also said it did not want changes to the debates.
"We're ready to move on to the second and third debates," campaign communications strategist Jason Miller said.
Campaign officials did not respond to a question about whether Mr Trump would agree to abide by the existing rules.
The moderator of Wednesday's debate, Fox News's Chris Wallace, interrupted proceedings several times to ask the President to follow the rules.
Reflecting on the event on Fox News, Mr Wallace said the President "bears the primary responsibility for what happened".
Biden isn't backing away from the debates either
Despite questions from pundits in the immediate aftermath of the debate, Joe Biden's campaign has confirmed multiple times that the Democratic nominee intends to show up at the remaining debates.
Mr Biden's 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," Mr Bates said in an email.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden hurled his fair share of insults at America's current leader during the first election debate.(Reuters: Brian Snyder)
Both candidates' campaigns agreed to the rules of Wednesday'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.
In a statement the day after the event, the debates commission said it would announce changes to the debate format soon.
The Commission on Presidential Debates said it would adopt changes to allow for a "more orderly discussion", but did not say what specific changes it was considering. There was immediate speculation changes could include introducing a mute button to limit interruptions.
At the top of their wish list was a fourth debate, scheduled in September. The campaign argued that with the pandemic forcing more voters than ever to vote early, a September debate would allow them to hear from the candidates before ballots were cast.
The letter, from Mr Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, also included a list of 24 suggested moderators.
Responding the the letter, the commission rejected the request for an extra debate and said it would follow "our longstanding procedure of selecting debate moderators".
"The commission has found that three 90-minute debates work well to fulfill the voter education purposes the debates are intended to serve," it said.
The next presidential debate is scheduled for October 15 in Miami, Florida, ahead of the November 3 election.
It will be a town hall style format, with questions asked by undecided voters rather than a single moderator.
The single vice-presidential debate of the campaign will be held next Thursday AEST.
There have been no requests for changes to the debate between Vice-President Mike Pence and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris, which is scheduled to follow a similar format to the first presidential debate.
ABC/Reuters
