* President Donald Trump said he will not participate in a debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden in a 'virtual' format
* 'That's not accessible to us. I beat him easily in the first debate,' Trump said Thursday morning
* He added: 'No, I'm not gonna waste my time in a virtual debate'
* Biden's campaign said he would still hold an independent town hall event next Thursday if Trump refuses to participate in the debate
* They also demanded the October 22 debate be changed to a town hall so Trump is still forced to field questions from voters in a town hall style debate
* The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the shift in formats Thursday as the president recuperates following his coronavirus diagnosis
* The second debate initially was set to take place in-person in Miami, Florida next week
Donald Trump said Thursday morning he will not participate in a virtual debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden – as the president claimed he has been 'cured' of coronavirus.
'That's not accessible to us. I beat him easily in the first debate,' Trump lamented in an interview with Fox Business Network minutes after the bipartisan commission that hosts the debates announced it would be shifting the format to virtual.
Read more ....
Update #1: Trump says no after debate commission switches to ‘virtual’ (AP)
Update #2: Trump pulls out of virtual debate with Biden, worries he'll be muted (Reuters)
WNU Editor: I have seen virtual debates before. Even participated in one a few years ago. It is just not the same as a debate where the participants are facing each other.
But there has been a virtual US Presidential debate before. The third debate between Nixon and Kennedy was done virtually in 1960, and IMHO was done well (see video below).
