10/09/2020 20:04
Clarín.com
World
Updated 10/09/2020 8:53 PM
The commission in charge of organizing the United States electoral campaign announced this Friday that it canceled the second verbal duel between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, initially scheduled for next Thursday in Miami, Florida.
After the contagion of the US president with the coronavirus, the committee decided that the debate should take place virtually, something that Trump flatly rejected.
A third and final clash between the White House candidates is
scheduled for October 22
.
In a statement, the commission recalled that it had decided to virtually hold the second face-to-face between Trump and Biden next Thursday in Miami (Florida) "to protect the health and safety of all those involved," but
the president refused to participate. with that format
.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden, shortly after the suspension of the next debate with Omald Trump was confirmed.
The debate was going to take place just two weeks after Trump tested positive for COVID-19, and that diagnosis, added to the multiple infections confirmed in the White House and the president's environment, had generated
concern among the organizers of the meeting and the campaign of Biden
.
Following Trump's refusal to participate in a virtual face-to-face, the commission noted that "it is now clear that there will be no debate on October 15, and that the CPD will focus its attention on the preparations. for the final presidential debate scheduled for October 22. "
The debate on the 22nd this month will be held at Belmont University, in Nashville, Tennessee, and will be subject to "health security considerations, and in accordance with all required (COVID-19) tests, masks, social distance and other protocols ".
This face-to-face will be divided into six blocks of fifteen minutes and the topics to be discussed will be announced a week before the meeting by the moderator, Kristen Welker, a journalist for NBC News.
Donald Trump seeks reelection as president of the United States.
Photo: DPA
The holding of the second and third debates in Miami and Nashville has been on the air since a week ago Trump announced that he had contracted COVID-19 and was admitted to a hospital, from which he left last Monday.
The president has spent this week convalescing in the White House, although tomorrow, Saturday, he will participate in a face-to-face event at the presidential mansion before hundreds of people and on Monday they intend to hold a rally in Florida.
His personal physician, Sean Conley, said on Thursday that the president could return to participate in public events this Saturday given his positive evolution.
Trump "obviously doesn't have the guts to answer voters about his bottom line" alongside Joe Biden, said Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the Democratic candidate.
"It is shameful that Donald Trump has dodged the only debate in which voters could ask questions, but it is not a surprise," he added to the
AFP agency
.
Following the announcement of the virtual debate, Trump's team accused the organizers of wanting to avoid a direct confrontation between the president seeking re-election and Biden.
With information from AFP and EFE