Exclusive: The Trump campaign is calling for an additional 2024 presidential debate and for the debate to be held “much sooner” than originally proposed, with former President Trump telling Fox News Digital about President Biden. He said he would be “fully committed” to the debate “at any time.” Anywhere, anywhere. ”
Fox News Digital reported on Thursday that President Trump’s co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris Lacivita wrote to Commission on Presidential Debates co-chairs Frank Farenkopf Jr. and Antonia Hernandez. We have obtained exclusive access to the letter sent to
Mr. Wiles and Mr. Lacivita told the committee that they were writing “in agreement with pending letters from television networks advocating for presidential debates to be held in 2024.” The New York Times reported.
“While the Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced that it will hold three presidential debates and a vice presidential debate later this year, we support these debates starting sooner,” they wrote. There is.
Trump calls for debate with Biden ‘anytime, anywhere, anywhere’
Former President Donald Trump arrives at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Trump is in the state to host a campaign fundraising event. (Robin Lane, Fox News Digital)
First, Wiles and LaCivita said, “Voting is starting earlier and earlier, and as we saw in 2020, tens of millions of Americans had already voted by the time of the first debate. ” he said.
“As far as the committee’s proposed 2024 calendar goes, it is simply too late,” they wrote, noting how many Americans have already voted by the date of each scheduled debate. Added estimated value.
“More than 1 million Americans are likely to vote by September 16, 2024, the date of the first proposed debate,” they wrote. “By October 1, 2024, when the second debate is scheduled, the number of Americans who likely voted will increase by 225% to more than 3 million.”
Biden says discussion with Trump ‘depends on his actions’
Wiles and LaCivita estimate that by the time of the third debate on October 9, 35 days after Election Day, “approximately 8.7 million Americans will have already voted.” .
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden answers questions and President Donald Trump watches during the second and final presidential debate at Belmont University on Thursday, October 22, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. . (AP Photo/Molly Gash, Pool)
The Trump campaign said Americans were “deprived of real, fulfilling debates” in 2020 and that the debates hosted by the committee were “too late in the election calendar, even though the voting schedule has been dramatically accelerated.” He claimed that it happened only twice.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday, Trump, who is considered the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, said, “The situation in the country is so bad that it’s very important to have this discussion now.”
Trump cited the crisis at the southern border, national security, America’s place on the world stage, rising crime and the economy.
“This country is in a very difficult situation,” President Trump told Fox News Digital. “What is Biden’s plan?”
“I am fully open to any discussion, anytime, anywhere,” he continued.
Asked if he thought Biden would participate in debates against him on the issues that matter most to voters, Trump said:
“Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. I don’t really care,” he said. “I am committed to discussing him anytime, anywhere, anywhere.”
Regarding the schedule for the debate, President Trump told Fox News Digital, “The sooner the better.”
First Lady Melania Trump (left) and Donald remain on stage as Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden (right) exits at the end of the second and final presidential debate on Thursday, October 22, 2020.・President Trump (center). Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
“I think it’s important to have the discussion. The sooner the better because people need to know what’s going on in America,” he explained. “We’re no longer respected around the world. There’s so much going on.”
He added: “This country is not the same country it was just four years ago.”
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign said in a letter to the debate commission that in 2020, the commission “yielded to the wishes of the Biden campaign on every front.”
“Fairness in these circumstances is paramount, and the Commission must ensure that the 2024 Commission-sponsored discussions are truly fair and impartial,” they wrote.
“The commission needs to bring forward the schedule for the proposed 2024 debate to ensure more Americans have ample opportunity to see the candidates before they begin voting, and “We will advocate for more debates to be added to the current schedule,” they said. I have written. “We’ve already shown that President Trump is willing to debate anytime, anywhere, anywhere, and now is the time to get these debates started.”
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It added: “Former President Abraham Lincoln and former U.S. Sen. Stephen A. Douglas engaged in seven debates during the historic 1858 U.S. Senate runoff in Illinois.” “Certainly America today has similar values.”
Mr. Biden and his campaign have not yet participated in a debate against Mr. Trump.
Asked last month if he planned to debate the former president, Biden said it would depend on Trump’s “actions.”
“It depends on what he does,” Biden said.
