Biden Rejects More Trump Debates: ‘No More Games’; Biden’s Team Had a Few Demands for a Trump Debate. A Major One: No Crowd.

By Breitbart. President Joe Biden on Friday rejected participation in more debates, which former President Donald Trump said Biden agreed to attend.

NBC News and Telemundo would have hosted the first presidential event, NBC News confirmed, while Fox News at Virginia State University would have hosted a vice presidential debate at a historically black college.

Trump announced the now-defunct agreement Friday. “I have accepted a fourth Presidential Debate against Crooked Joe Biden, this time with NBC & Telemundo,” Trump said:

It is important as Republicans that we WIN with our Great Hispanic Community, who Biden has devastated with Crippling Inflation, High Gas Prices, Crime in our Streets, and Border Chaos. This Fourth Debate will go along with our previously accepted Presidential Debates on CNN, ABC, and Fox. This is all in addition to our accepting an invitation from Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum of Fox News to host the Vice Presidential Debate at Virginia State University, or another venue, in Virginia, to be named later. These are the Debates that Voters have been asking for, and these are the Debates that Voters will get!

. . .

“The debate about debates is over,” a Biden campaign official told NBC News. “No more games.” (Read more from “Biden Rejects More Trump Debates: ‘No More Games’” HERE)

___________________________________________________

Biden’s Team Had a Few Demands for a Trump Debate. A Major One: No Crowd.

By Politico. . .They resolved in private that if Biden ever faced Trump on a debate stage, there would be no one in the peanut gallery.

That demand became part of the reelection campaign’s agreed-upon proposal to Trump this week for their two general election debates, one in June the other in September. An empty TV studio could, Biden aides feel, deprive their GOP rival of a major advantage when they face off.

“Trump feeds off the crowd, they give him life,” said one Biden adviser who was granted anonymity in order to discuss internal strategy. “We wanted to take that away.”

There were several conditions that the Biden team felt were necessary in order to agree to a debate with the former president, among them that at least one forum take place before the start of early voting and that the hosts weren’t from outlets with an ideological bent toward Trump. But in interviews with more than a half dozen officials and advisers who were not authorized to discuss private conversations, the issue of the crowd was consistent. Among their concerns were that the audience noise could disadvantage Biden, who sometimes has trouble hearing amid a din. They also wanted to ensure that there was a clean tempo and cadence to the debate and that it not turn into a shouting match or spectacle. Biden aides have envisioned using the forums to pummel Trump on abortion rights, his response to the Covid pandemic and threats to democracy. For that reason, they were also pleased that the debate would, it appears, involve microphones that can be cut off if a candidate speaks when it’s not their turn. (Read more from “Biden’s Team Had a Few Demands for a Trump Debate. A Major One: No Crowd.” HERE)