US Election 2020: Trump campaign demands last presidential debate to be on foreign policy

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, has demanded that the final round of Presidential Debates to be focused on foreign policy. Ahead of the US Election 2020, the third and final debate between US President Donald Trump and his electoral opponent Joe Biden is set to take place on October 22. In the letter, Stepien urged the officials to 'rethink' and 'reissue' a set of topics and dismissed 'unacceptable' proposals to allow the moderator to shut off candidates’ microphones. 

The Trump campaign manager wrote, “For the good of campaign integrity and for the benefit of the American people, we urge you to rethink and reissue a set of topics for the October 22 debate, with an emphasis on foreign policy. This is what the campaigns had agreed to and it has been the tradition in past campaigns”. 

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The Trump campaign said that only a few of the topics announced by moderator Kristen Welker barely touch on foreign policy and almost all were discussed at length during the first debate. Welker had chosen the topics and apart from coronavirus response and national security, the list included US families, the subject of race in America, climate change, and leadership. 

Regarding the issue of allowing the moderator to shut off candidates’ microphones during the debates, Stepien said, “It is completely unacceptable for anyone to wield such power and a decision to proceed with that change amounts to turning further editorial control of the debate over to the Commission which has already demonstrated its partiality to Biden”. 

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Trump-Biden Town Halls 

The next Presidential Debate will take place on October 22 at Belmont University, Nashville. Meanwhile, as the second Presidential Debate was called off, both Trump and Biden featured in their own respective televised town hall on October 15 (local time).

Owing to increased health risks following the US President’s COVID-19 diagnosis, the debate commission had tabled the proposal to hold the face-off in a virtual format. The idea was rejected by Trump, following which the debate commission cancelled the event.

On October 15, Trump and Biden simultaneously appeared on different news networks to speak to the people in what is known as the 'town hall' format. While Trump spoke from NBC studio, Biden addressed the people from ABC. 

(With inputs from ANI) 

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