The next presidential debate will be going virtual. On Thursday, the Presidential Debate Commission announced that the second presidential debate will be held as a virtual town hall with both candidates answering questions from different remote locations.
Those participating in the town hall will be in attendance at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, but President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will be elsewhere.
“The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which the candidates would participate in separate remote locations,” the commission announced in a press release.
The debate is scheduled to take place on October 15.
However, there may only be one participant if Donald Trump follows through on his comments to Fox Business shortly after the announcement. Trump said that he will not “waste time” with the virtual format and called it “unacceptable” while saying the debate commission is attempting to protect Joe Biden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSOV1csyWsM
“No, I’m not going to waste my time in a virtual debate,” Trump said. “That’s not what debating is all about. You sit behind a computer and do … and then they cut you off whenever they want.
“We learned it the same way you learned it, they called up. Two minutes ago and it was announced, and they’re trying to protect Biden. That’s not acceptable to us. I beat him easily in the first debate, according to the polls that I’ve seen. But I beat him easily, and I felt I beat him easily. I think he felt it, too.”
The remainder of the debate schedule can be seen below.
2020 Presidential Debate Schedule
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HnKFUNlcfY
Second presidential debate
- Date: Thursday, Oct. 15
- Location: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami
- Time: 9-10:30 p.m. ET (6-7:30 p.m. PT)
- Moderator: Steve Scully, political editor of C-SPAN
Third presidential debate
- Date: Thursday, Oct. 22
- Location: Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee
- Time: 9-10:30 p.m. ET (6-7:30 p.m. PT)
- Moderator: Kristen Welker, NBC News White House correspondent