Next Trump-Biden debate will be ‘virtual’ amid fears president still infectious with Covid

President says ‘I’m not going to do a virtual debate’ following cancellation of in-person event next week

Gino Spocchia
Thursday 08 October 2020 13:12 BST
Comments
Biden V Trump: US election opinion polls

The second televised presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump will be “virtual”, the commission on debates has said.

It comes amid concerns over the US president’s illness with coronavirus since last week, which necessitated his hospitalisation at the Walter Reed Medical Centre last weekend.

In a statement, the debates commission said on Thursday that the decision to scrap the in-person debate was “in order to protect the health and safety of all involved with the second presidential debate scheduled for October 15"

The debate is expected to take the form of a town hall meeting, with both Mr Trump and Mr Biden participating from separate locations. 

Steve Scully, the debate’s moderator, will still travel to the venue in Miami, Florida, where the two presidential candidates would have come face-to-face for the second time.

Despite the president’s coronavirus diagnosis a week ago, he said he looked forward to debating Mr Biden on stage in Miami, adding that "It will be great!"

On Thursday, the president responded to the debate commissions announcement in an appearance on Fox News, calling the decision “not acceptable".

“I’m not going to do a virtual debate," he argued. "No, I'm not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. ... [Sitting] behind a computer is not what debating is all about."

Mr Biden, for his part, had called for the debate with Mr Trump to be cancelled if the president remained Covid-positive. 

The Democrat told reporters in Pennsylvania that he was "looking forward to being able to debate him" but said "we're going to have to follow very strict guidelines."

The 74-year-old president’s illness last week had come within 48 hours of his debate with the 77-year-old Democrat, who was stood some six feet away for the 90-minute event.

Mr Biden returned negative test results before returning to in-person campaigning this week.

It comes as vice president Mike Pence and the Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, debated on Wednesday night with plexiglass dividers between them, as a precaution. 

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in