NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- President Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s campaigns on Thursday continued to clash over the timing and format of the second and third presidential debates, with ABC News announcing that Biden would host his own town hall on the night the second debate was originally scheduled to take place.
After Trump said Thursday morning he would not participate in what he called a “ridiculous” virtual presidential debate on Oct. 15, the Biden campaign proposed pushing the second debate to Oct. 22, when a third debate was initially scheduled to take place.
Trump’s campaign agreed to an in-person debate on Oct. 22, but said the third debate should be held on Oct. 29. Biden’s campaign countered that the Oct. 22 debate should be the second and final debate, as the Oct. 29 date falls too close to Election Day.
As of late Thursday afternoon, it wasn’t clear if the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which made the decision to take the second, town hall-style debate virtual due to Trump’s COVID-19 diagnosis, would greenlight any of the proposals.
ABC News said it would host a town hall with Biden on the original Oct. 15 date, without Trump in attendance.
Biden for President Deputy Campaign Manager and Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said in a statement Thursday morning: "Joe Biden was prepared to accept the CPD's proposal for a virtual Town Hall, but the President has refused, as Donald Trump clearly does not want to face questions from the voters about his failures on COVID and the economy."
She continued, "As a result, Joe Biden will find an appropriate place to take questions from voters directly on October 15th, as he has done on several occasions in recent weeks. Given the President's refusal to participate on October 15th, we hope the Debate Commission will move the Biden-Trump Town Hall to October 22nd, so that the President is not able to evade accountability."
Bedingfield continued, "The voters should have a chance to ask questions of both candidates, directly. Every Presidential candidate since 1992 has participated in such an event, and it would be a shame if Donald Trump was the first to refuse."
Trump had said on "Mornings with Maria" on Fox Business earlier in the day, "The commission changed the debate style and that's not acceptable to us. I beat him in the first debate, I beat him easily."
The president added that he expected to "beat him in the second debate also."
"I'm not going to do a virtual debate," Trump continued. "I’m not going to waste my time at a virtual debate."
The president said he wasn't going to "sit at a computer" to debate, calling it "ridiculous."
"They're trying to protect Biden," Trump said. "Everybody is."
The Biden campaign, however, said in a statement that Biden "looks forward to speaking directly to the American people and comparing his plan for bringing the country together and building back better."
Bill Stepien, Trump 2020 campaign manager, said in a statement following Trump's interview, "President Trump won the first debate despite a terrible and biased moderator in Chris Wallace, and everybody knows it. For the swamp creatures at the Presidential Debate Commission to now rush to Joe Biden’s defense by unilaterally canceling an in-person debate is pathetic. That’s not what debates are about or how they’re done."
Stepian addressed Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis, saying, "Here are the facts: President Trump will have posted multiple negative tests prior to the debate, so there is no need for this unilateral declaration. The safety of all involved can easily be achieved without canceling a chance for voters to see both candidates go head to head. We’ll pass on this sad excuse to bail out Joe Biden and do a rally instead."
The Commission on Presidential Debates earlier in the morning said it made the switch "in order to protect the health and safety of all involved."
It said moderator Steve Scully would remain at the event’s original location, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami.
Both candidates would be at remote locations, the CPD initially said.
"The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which the candidates would participate from separate remote locations," the CPD said in a statement. "The town meeting participants and the moderator, Steve Scully, senior executive producer and political editor C-SPAN Networks, will be located at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami, Florida.The White House pool will provide coverage of the second presidential debate.”