
The Trump campaign hit back at the Commission on Presidential Debates last Tuesday after the Commission confirmed that it would keep to the current schedule of debates despite requests by the Trump campaign to hold a debate before early voting began.
In early April, Trump’s campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles wrote a letter to the Commission saying the campaign would be willing to participate in the Commission’s debates as long as they were fair and impartial.
LaCivita and Wiles also requested that the Commission schedule earlier debates during the general election season, arguing that many Americans will have already cast a ballot in early voting before the first debate, scheduled for September 16, even takes place.
However, the Commission confirmed on April 30 that it would stick to the original debate schedule that it announced in late November.
In a statement released later that day, LaCivita and Wiles said it was “unacceptable” that the current debate schedule would start after “millions of Americans” have already cast ballots in the election.
They accused the Commission on Presidential Debates of doing a “grave disservice” to voters by “refusing to move up the debates,” insisting that voters deserved to hear the two candidates debate before early voting began.
The campaign managers reiterated that Donald Trump would be willing to debate President Biden “anytime, anywhere, anyplace” and noted that Biden has also agreed to debate.
They warned that the Trump campaign was “committed to making this happen,” even without the Commission on Presidential Debates. They extended an invitation to “every television network in America” that would wish to hold an earlier debate and called on the Biden campaign to work with the Trump campaign to set up a debate “as soon as possible.”
In a statement on May 1, the Commission defended its schedule, noting that the September 16 debate would be the “earliest televised general election debate ever held.” It added that the date was “purposefully” selected “after a comprehensive study of early voting rules in every state.”