The Trump campaign is calling for additional 2024 presidential debates and for them to take place \u2018much earlier\u2019 than initially proposed by the debate commission, with former President Trump telling Fox News Digital that he is \u2018totally committed\u2019 to debating President Biden \u2018anytime, anywhere, anyplace.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a letter Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita sent Thursday to The Commission on Presidential Debates co-chairs Frank Farenkopf Jr. and Antonia Hernandez.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wiles and LaCivita told the commission they were writing \u2018in agreement with the pending letter,\u2019 reported by The New York Times, \u2018from television networks advocating for presidential debates to occur in 2024.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018While the Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced three presidential debates and a vice-presidential debate to occur later this year, we are in favor of these debates beginning much earlier,\u2019 they wrote.<\/p>\n
First, Wiles and LaCivita said \u2018voting is beginning earlier and earlier, and as we saw in 2020, tens of millions of Americans had already voted by the time of the first debate.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Specific to the Commissions proposed 2024 calendar, it simply comes too late,\u2019 they wrote, adding an estimate of how many Americans will have already voted by the date of each scheduled debate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018By the date of the first proposed debate, September 16, 2024, over 1 million Americans will have likely voted,\u2019 they wrote. \u2018By the date of the second proposed debate, October 1, 2024, the number of Americans who will have likely cast a ballot will be over 3 million, an increase of 225%.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the third proposed debate date on Oct. 9, 35 days from Election Day, Wiles and LaCivita estimated that \u2018approximately 8.7 million Americans will have already voted.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Trump campaign argued that in 2020, Americans \u2018were robbed of a true and robust debate,\u2019 with the commission only hosting two debates that took place \u2018much too late in the election calendar despite voting timelines having moved up exponentially.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital on Thursday, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said it is \u2018very important to have the debates now because the country is doing so badly.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump listed the crisis at the southern border, national security, America\u2019s standing on the world stage, rising crime, the economy and more.<\/p>\n
\u2018The country is in such trouble,\u2019 Trump told Fox News Digital. \u2018What are Biden\u2019s plans?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I would fully accept any debate, anywhere, anytime, anyplace,\u2019 he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked if he thought Biden, too, would commit to a debate against him on the issues that matter most to voters, Trump replied:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Perhaps he will, perhaps he won\u2019t. I really don\u2019t care,\u2019 he said. \u2018I am totally committed to debating him anytime, anywhere, any place.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for the debate schedule, Trump told Fox News Digital \u2018the earlier the better.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I think it is important that we debate and the earlier the better because people have to find out what is going on with America,\u2019 he explained. \u2018We are no longer respected around the world. There are so many things that are happening.\u2019<\/p>\n
He added: \u2018It\u2019s not the same country that we had just four years ago.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in their letter to the debate commission, the Trump campaign said that in 2020, the commission \u2018ceded to the wishes of the Biden campaign on every front.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Fairness in such a setting is paramount and the Commission must ensure that the 2024 Commission-sponsored debates are truly fair and conducted impartially,\u2019 they wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The Commission must move up the timetable of its proposed 2024 debates to ensure more Americans have a full chance to see the candidates before they start voting, and we would argue for adding more debates in addition to those on the currently proposed schedule,\u2019 they wrote. \u2018We have already indicated President Trump is willing to debate anytime, anyplace, and anywhere\u2014and the time to start these debates is now.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Former President Abraham Lincoln and former U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas held seven debates in their storied 1858 U.S. Senate battle in Illinois,\u2019 they added. \u2018Certainly today\u2019s America deserves as much.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Biden and his campaign have yet to commit to debates against Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked last month if he would debate the former president, Biden said it was dependent on Trump\u2019s \u2018behavior.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Depends on his behavior,\u2019 Biden said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Biden addressed previous calls for earlier debates with Trump.<\/p>\n
\u2018If I were him, I would want to debate me, too,\u2019 Biden told reporters in Nevada when asked about Trump wanting to debate him earlier in the election cycle.<\/p>\n
\u2018He\u2019s got nothing else to do,\u2019 Biden said.<\/p>\n\n
The Trump campaign is calling for additional 2024 presidential debates and for them to take place \u2018much earlier\u2019 than initially proposed by the debate commission, with former President Trump telling Fox News Digital that he is \u2018totally committed\u2019 to debating President Biden \u2018anytime, anywhere, anyplace.\u2019\u00a0 Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a letter Trump co-campaign managers <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}