Trump Says He Won’t Participate in Virtual Presidential Debate

[Jeanne Maria]

he president’s refusal led Joe Biden’s campaign to schedule a town hall in Philadelphia for the planned day of the virtual event

Trump Says He Won’t Participate in a Virtual Debate

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Trump Says He Won’t Participate in a Virtual Debate

President Trump said on Fox Business early Thursday, “I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate.”

Photo: Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

By Eliza Collins and Michael C. Bender

Updated Oct. 8, 2020 10:12 pm ET

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Plans for President Trump and Joe Biden to meet for two more debates this month were in question after the president refused to participate in a virtual debate next week, leading the Democratic nominee’s campaign to schedule a town hall in Philadelphia for the same day.

The debate schedule was up in the air after the Commission on Presidential Debates said Thursday it was changing the format of a planned Oct. 15 debate so that the two candidates would participate from remote locations. The president and a growing number of people in the White House recently tested positive for the coronavirus.

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The first presidential debate and Wednesday night’s vice-presidential event were held in person but included social-distancing measures crafted in consultation with the Cleveland Clinic.

“I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate,” Mr. Trump said on Fox Business on Thursday morning.

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, who also tested positive for coronavirus in recent days, said the decision to make the Oct. 15 debate—which was planned as an in-person town hall—a virtual event was “pathetic.” He said Mr. Trump wouldn’t be positive for the coronavirus by then and that the campaign would hold a rally instead.

Mr. Stepien issued another statement later Thursday asking for the town-hall debate to be pushed back a week and for a third presidential debate to be scheduled on Oct. 29.

The vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris took place in person with added protections, despite objections from the Trump campaign.

PHOTO: JUSTIN SULLIVAN/PRESS POOL

Thursday night, Mr. Trump’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, released a memo saying the president might be able to hold in-person events by Saturday. That prompted Mr. Stepien to renew his call for an in-person debate in Miami.

“If we can have enough time to put it together, we want to do a rally probably in Florida on Saturday night, and might come back and do one in Pennsylvania the following night,” Mr. Trump told Fox’s Sean Hannity on Thursday evening.

Mr. Biden’s campaign initially said he would participate in the virtual debate. After Mr. Trump said he wouldn’t attend, ABC News announced that Mr. Biden would participate in an Oct. 15 town hall in Philadelphia moderated by George Stephanopoulos.

The Biden campaign also rejected the Trump team’s request for another debate at the end of the month. Biden Deputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield said Mr. Trump can’t “pick new dates of his choosing” and that the final debate should be held Oct. 22.

“We agreed to three debates back in the summer,” Mr. Biden told reporters during a campaign swing through Arizona. “We set the dates. I’m sticking with the dates, I’m showing up. I’ll be there. And in fact, if he shows up, fine. If he doesn’t, fine.”

Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., co-chairman of the debate commission, said his group was moving forward with plans for the Miami debate because he hadn’t received official notice from either the Trump or Biden campaigns about not participating.

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“We’re not going to stop that until we officially get word from both campaigns that they’re not going to do it,” he said. Mr. Fahrenkopf said the commission was also continuing its plans for the debate in Nashville on Oct. 22.

Mr. Trump, who is trailing in national polls, has been looking to get back in front of voters. Although he has been sidelined from the campaign trail due to his illness, he had said he would participate in the town-hall-style debate in Miami next week. He has repeatedly called for more debates, including as recently as last week, as he aims to close the gap with Mr. Biden.

Some campaign aides had said there was a chance Mr. Trump could change his mind about participating in a virtual debate. Other advisers around Mr. Trump questioned the wisdom of refusing to participate in a debate just weeks away from the election.

Campaign aides said they were considering options for Mr. Trump to return to the campaign trail.

Mr. Trump is trailing Mr. Biden in national polls, and a debate would offer both candidates the opportunity to make their case directly to the voters. More than 70 million Americans watched the first debate, while Mr. Trump’s rallies are rarely carried live on cable networks.

Last week’s debate—in which Mr. Trump repeatedly interrupted Mr. Biden and the moderator, and both candidates lobbed insults at one another—appeared to benefit Mr. Biden, whose lead grew in a host of national and battleground state polls taken afterward. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sunday found Mr. Biden ahead of the president by 14 percentage points nationally, 53%-39%. That was Mr. Trump’s weakest support of the year, as the president’s backing from older and white working-class voters softened. A quarter of voters in that poll said the debate made a difference in their vote, with a bigger share saying it made them more likely to support Mr. Biden.

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The second debate was planned as a town-hall-style event. The debate commission said the new format would have both candidates appearing virtually, with the debate moderator C-Span Network’s Steve Scully and town hall participants located in Miami.

This wouldn’t be the first time Mr. Trump skipped a debate. During the 2016 primary, the then-candidate held a campaign event instead of attending a Republican debate because of a dispute with the host, Fox News. During the 2016 general election, Mr. Trump criticized the debate commission, calling the bipartisan panel biased because one of its co-chairs had worked in the Clinton administration.

The dispute over debates erupted the morning after the first debate between vice presidential candidates on Wednesday, which took place in person with added protections from the week before. Both Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) have so far tested negative for the virus.

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Mr. Trump attacked Ms. Harris early Thursday, calling her a communist and a “monster.”

In Arizona, Mr. Biden responded that the president was “delusional,” while Ms. Harris said she refused to respond to Mr. Trump’s “childish remarks.”

Political strategists said the vice presidential debate would be remembered more for the questions that went unanswered during their 90 minutes on stage in Salt Lake City, Utah, rather than any standout lines or remarkable ripostes from either candidate.

Neither candidate would engage when asked if they had discussed with their running mates—both men in their 70s—a plan in case the president was unable to carry out his responsibilities. Mr. Pence ducked a question about how the Trump administration would ensure insurance coverage for people with pre-existing conditions if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, and Ms. Harris wouldn’t say whether the Democratic ticket intends to add seats to the court if they win, a question that the campaign continued to face on Thursday.

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“They’ll know my opinion on court-packing when the election is over,” Mr. Biden said. “You know the moment I answer that question, the headline in every one of your papers will be about that, other than focusing on what’s happening now.”

Political analysts said the evening would probably do little to change the state of the race, which in recent days has centered on the administration’s handling of the pandemic. The most memorable moment, several pundits said, was when a fly landed on Mr. Pence’s head and remained there for more than two minutes.

“This debate did nothing to alter the trajectory of the race; it was more of a talking-point exchange than a debate,” said David Wasserman, a political analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

—Sabrina Siddiqui contributed to this article.

Write to 

Eliza Collins at eliza.collins@wsj.com. 

and Michael C. Bender at Mike.Bender@wsj.com

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Appeared in the October 9, 2020, print edition as 'Trump Shuns Debate Over Virtual Format.'