The Trump campaign accused the presidential-debates commission of a 'pro-Biden bias' after it didn't include talking points that Trump could use to skewer Biden on Thursday
Jim Watson, Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
- President Trump's campaign has accused the presidential-debates commission of having "pro-Biden bias," complaining about an absence of questions on foreign policy in this Thursday's debate.
- Stepien accused the Commission on Presidential Debates of helping "insulate Biden from his own history" of poor foreign-policy decisions by leaving those questions out.
- The CPD announced last week that the topics on Thursday would be COVID-19, families, race, climate change, national security, and leadership.
- In his letter, Stepien said that both the Trump and Biden campaigns had agreed to make Thursday's debate about foreign policy.
- The Biden campaign said that no such deal was struck, and that the CPD is always in charge of setting topics.
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President Donald Trump's campaign has accused the presidential-debates commission of being biased toward Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, after it did not include talking points in this Thursday's debate that Trump could use to skewer his opponent.
In a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) dated October 19, Bill Stepien, Trump's campaign manager, said Biden and Trump campaigns had agreed to make Thursday the "foreign policy debate."
"This is what the campaigns had agreed to and it has been the tradition in past campaigns," Stepien wrote, claiming that Biden is "desperate to avoid conversations about his own foreign policy record."
Stepien also accused the CPD Of having "pro-Biden bias," and in his tweet called the CPD the "BDC (Biden Debate Commission)."
—BillStepien (@BillStepien) October 19, 2020
On Friday, the CPD had announced that the topics would be "fighting COVID-19," "American families," "race in America," "climate change," "national security," and "leadership."
In his letter, Stepien accused the CPD of choosing topics that "insulate Biden from his own history," before going on to attack his foreign-policy decisions.
Stepien quoted Biden's former secretary of defense, Robert Gates, who last year said Biden has been "wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
However, Biden's press secretary TJ Ducklo told the BBC that the two campaigns had not agreed to focus on foreign policy.
"The campaigns and the Commission agreed months ago that the debate moderator would choose the topics," he said.
Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images
NBC News correspondent Kristen Welke will preside over Thursday's debate, which will take place in Nashville, Tennessee, at 9:30 p.m. EDT. It will be the second time Biden and Trump debate in person.
The first presidential debate was held in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 29.
The second debate was set to be held on October 15, but was scrapped on October 9 following Trump's coronavirus diagnosis, as well as those of many other White House and Trump campaign staff.
Trump and Biden held respective town halls in the place of the debate.
In Cleveland, Trump was criticized for repeatedly speaking out of turn and shouting over Biden. On Monday, the CPD announced that both candidates' microphones could be muted while the other was talking.
Each speaker will get two minutes to make a statement on each topic, followed by a 15-minute discussion period.
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