WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump rejected a plan Thursday to remotely debate former Vice President Joe Biden on Oct. 15, throwing new confusion into the presidential race shortly after the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the event would be held virtually because of the pandemic.
"I'm not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That's not what debating is all about," he said on Fox Business. "You sit behind a computer and do a debate; it's ridiculous."
Trump's campaign said he would hold a rally instead that night. For now, he remains infectious with COVID-19 and staging a crowded public event could put others at risk since many of his supporters refuse to wear masks or socially distance.
Trump and Biden staged their first debate in person on a stage in Cleveland on Sept. 29, three days before the president came down with COVID-19 and was hospitalized for three days.
The second presidential debate would be held with Trump and Biden in separate locations "in order to protect the health and safety of all involved," the commission said. The moderator, C-SPAN's Steve Scully, would be in Miami with voters who would pose questions to the candidates in a town hall-style format.
Biden accepted the conditions, but once Trump pulled out, his campaign said that the former vice president would hold his own event where he would take questions from voters.
Kate Bedingfield, Biden's deputy campaign manager, said the town hall debate should be rescheduled for Oct. 22 "so that the president is not able to evade accountability."
"The voters should have a chance to ask questions of both candidates directly," she said. "Every presidential candidate since 1992 has participated in such an event, and it would be a shame if Donald Trump was the first to refuse."
Bill Stepien, Trump's campaign manager, said there was no reason to debate virtually because the president "will have posted multiple negative tests prior to the debate."
"We'll pass on this sad excuse to bail out Joe Biden and do a rally instead," said Stepien, who has tested positive for the coronavirus and is working remotely.
Trump allies and campaign officials rejuvenated baseless theories that Biden read a teleprompter or got help from advisors during the debate, rather than acknowledge the health concerns surrounding the president.
The White House has refused to say when Trump last tested negative for the coronavirus. He announced early last Friday that he had tested positive, and was rushed to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that night.
Before flying to Arizona early Thursday to campaign with his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, Biden said he wasn't sure if Trump would stick to his decision to pull out of the debate.
"I don't know what the president is going to do," he said. "He changes his mind every second. For me to comment on that now would be irresponsible."
Trump's decision could cost him an opportunity to make up for his ruinous first debate performance. Public opinion surveys showed voters were repelled by his bullying demeanor as he repeatedly mocked and interrupted Biden.
The former vice president's already significant lead in polls has grown by several percentage points since the Cleveland debate.
For the trailing candidate to turn down a nationally televised debate is unusual; typically, the front-runner tries to avoid unpredictable events such as live debates.
But Trump's decision-making has been erratic in this closing stretch of the campaign, even by his standards.
Since returning from the hospital on Monday, he abruptly canceled stimulus talks with House Democrats, ruling out the possibility of providing more financial relief to Americans struggling with the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis.
Then, just as suddenly, he sought to restart the negotiations after a sharp decline in the stock market. The talks have not resumed, and the likelihood of getting a deal before the election is exceedingly slim.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has publicly questioned whether the drugs Trump is taking, especially dexamethasone _ a steroid that can cause irritability, mood swings and give a false sense of extra energy _ have impaired the president's judgment.
Trump said on Fox that he's feeling much better after his hospitalization but is still taking dexamethasone, which is prescribed for COVID-19 patients facing lung trouble.
Although presidential debates have mostly been held in person, it's not unprecedented to have the candidates in separate locations.
Richard Nixon was in Los Angeles and John F. Kennedy in New York for their third debate in 1960; the moderator was in Chicago.
After Trump announced his positive diagnosis last Friday morning, Biden was tested multiple times over the next few days to ensure he had not contracted the coronavirus while on stage with the president; he tested negative each time.
Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris _ the running mates for Trump and Biden _ also tested negative. But the commission placed plexiglass barriers on stage between them for the vice presidential debate Wednesday night, and they sat 12 feet apart.
