The debate over debates: What will Trump demand?
Question looms on whether he will even appear
“I don’t think they should be opposite NFL games, and I want to see a fair moderator. ... But certainly I want to do the debates.” Donald Trump
The latest question about the Donald Trump campaign: How many debates will the candidate take part in, if any?
Although Trump says he’s eager to face Democrat Hillary Clinton, he also wants veto power over certain moderators and other possible changes that have some analysts wondering if the three scheduled presidential debates will come off this fall after all.
Alan Schroeder, author of the book Presidential Debates: Risky Business on the Campaign Trail, said there are two schools of thought about Trump’s reticence to commit to the debate schedule: He’s either seeking conditions most favorable to him, or “he’s looking for reasons to get out of them altogether.”
Trump says there will be debates; he just wants questions cleared up.
“I don’t think they should be opposite NFL games, and I want to see a fair moderator and whatever else we’ll look at,” Trump told Fox News this week. “But certainly I want to do the debates.”
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is representing Trump in debate talks, told CNN: “Donald Trump is going to participate in all three debates and the negotiations are going to be about — as they always are and have always been — about how we do it.”
Trump said he is prepared to veto certain moderators, who have yet to be named.
He has for some time criticized the fact that two debates are opposite National Football League games.
There is also precedent for backing out of a scheduled debate: In the days leading up to the Iowa caucuses, the real estate mogul opted to skip a Des Moines forum over a dispute with Fox News, which was hosting the event.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has set three presidential debates: Sept. 26 at Hofstra University on Long Island in New York; Oct. 9 at Washington University in St. Louis; and Oct. 19 at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.