Debate canceled, but Trump plans to host large crowds
WASHINGTON — After two days of confusion, the bipartisan group that organizes presidential debates canceled the scheduled faceoff next week between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, but that it expects them to debate once more before the election.
Barring any lastminute snags, the second and final presidential debate will take place Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tenn. Like the first, it will be a facetoface exchange on a stage, and not a virtual townhall style event, as the commission had proposed for the nowcanceled debate.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the decision Friday hours after Trump, who was hospitalized for COVID-19 last weekend, announced plans to resume live campaign events with large crowds this weekend, raising questions about whether he is still contagious or could be reinfected.
Looking to shove his campaign back on track, Trump and his team laid out an aggressive return to political activities, including a big Saturday White House event and a rally in Florida on Monday, a week after his hospitalization for the coronavirus that has killed more than 210,000 Americans.
As Biden steps up campaigning, Trump will leave Washington for the first time since he was hospitalized. He is increasing his radio and TV appearances with conservative interviewers to make up for lost time with just over three weeks until election day and millions already voting.
The president has not been seen in public — other than in White House produced videos — since his return Monday from the military hospital where he received experimental treatments for the virus.
Two weeks after his Rose Garden event that has been labeled a “superspreader” for the virus, Trump is planning to convene another large crowd outside the White House on Saturday on a law and order theme.
More than two dozen people linked to the White House have contracted the coronavirus since the president’s Sept. 26 event announcing Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court.