Trump refuses to participate in virtual debate; 2nd U.S. presidential debate in limbo

  • 3 years ago
美 대선 2차 TV토론은 화상으로...트럼프 반발

U.S. President Donald Trump, diagnosed with COVID-19 ten days ago, is apparently symptom-free now and almost ready to resume his public appearances... according to his physician.
The question now is whether the next presidential debate, scheduled for October 15th, will go ahead or not.
Trump is refusing to take part if it's not held in person.
Our has this report.
The second debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden is in limbo after the commission running the debates announced it's going to be held virtually.
Citing safety reasons, the debate commission said Thursday that the event will be held as scheduled on October 15th, but that the candidates would take part remotely.
Trump responded immediately that he would not waste his time in a virtual debate, calling the idea "ridiculous."
And speaking to Fox Business, he said he plans to get back on the campaign trail this weekend.
"I think I'm going to try doing a rally on Saturday night if we can -- if we have enough time to put it together. But we want to do a rally probably in Florida on Saturday night. Might come back and do one in Pennsylvania the following night, and it's incredible what's going on."
After Trump rejected the idea of a virtual debate, the Biden and Trump campaigns issued a flurry of proposals.
The Trump campaign said it would take part in the second debate if it's pushed back by a week to October 22nd ...and the third and final one also rescheduled to October 29th... only a few days before the election on November 3rd.
The Biden campaign, however, shot down the idea, saying that the dates were agreed back in June and that Trump does not get to decide the debate schedule.
Trump lags far behind Biden in the polls, so he'll have to make the most of the debates to get the support he needs to win.
Min Suk-heyn, Arirang News.

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