Eric Trump says Donald Trump wants to come face-to-face with Joe Biden as he reiterates his father won't participate in 'glorified conference call' after president refused to accept new virtual debate format
Eric Trump defended on Sunday his father's decision to drop out of the second presidential debate after the commission who runs the face-off decided to change the format to virtual in light of the president's positive coronavirus diagnosis.
'My father wants to stand on the stage with his opponent,' Eric told ABC's 'This Week' Sunday morning. 'He wants to stand on the stage, look somebody in the eyes, and Biden's not willing to do that.'
'He didn't want to stand on a stage with my father. That should tell you everything that you need to know about him, literally,' he said. 'My father wants nothing more than to debate on Thursday. Biden wouldn't show up.'
'The only thing he would do is he would do a Zoom call,' Eric continued. 'And my father, maybe he's a traditional guy, he didn't want to do a glorified conference call for a presidential debate.'
Eric said his father would still participate in the in-person debate in Miami on Thursday.
Eric Trump said Sunday that his father wants to face Joe Biden in-person on stage at the second debate and 'look him in the eye'
'The only thing he would do is he would do a Zoom call,' Eric lamented of Biden. 'And my father, maybe he's a traditional guy, he didn't want to do a glorified conference call for a presidential debate'
Biden and his campaign have made clear they were willing to participate in a virtual debate, but raised concerns last week about an in-person debate if the president did not rest negative for COVID-19 ahead of time.
The bipartisan Commision on Presidential Debates announced on Thursday that it was shifting it's second debate between Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden to virtual in light of the president's coronavirus diagnosis earlier this month.
Trump immediately said he would not participate in a debate in a virtual format.
Biden's campaign later said he would instead participate in a televised town hall on Thursday – the original night of the debate – considering the second debate was supposed to be a town hall with C-SPAN's Steve Scully moderating.
'My father wants to stand on the stage with his opponent,' Eric, Trump's middle son, reiterated during a rare television interview with a network other than Fox News. 'That's how debates have been handled in America for the last 200 years. You stood there and you debated somebody.'
He added: 'He still wants to do the debate in Miami on Thursday. So if Joe wants to accept, he'll certainly be there.'
'Biden's willing to go to Pennsylvania or go to some state and do a town hall standing on stage with three or four people. But he won't stand on the same stage as my father. My father doesn't want to do a conference call debate,' Eric said.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced Friday it was officially canceling the debate the day after it said it was reformatting to virtual.
CPD said the candidates and moderator would still be in Miami, but participate in the virtual town hall debate from separate locations to accommodate for pandemic-era concerns.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced Thursday it was reformatting the second debate to virtual in light of Trump's positive coronavirus diagnosis – and on Friday it canceled the debate after the president said he would not participate
So far, the third and final presidential debate is slated for October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Eric suggested Trump would likely refuse to participate in that third debate as well if it was held virtually.
'My father doesn't want to do it over a glorified conference call,' he lamented.
Eric and his siblings, Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Tiffany – as well as first lady Melania Trump – were all pictured at the first debate in the front row not wearing masks as required by all viewers by the commission.
'I'm happy to wear a mask,' Eric said when asked if he would do so at future debates.