Austin, TX, Release: October 8, 2020. For Immediate Release 

The Texas GOP is disappointed that the Commission on Presidential Debates is attempting to make the next Presidential debate digital and remote. This unnecessary manipulation of the debate format lends itself to a host of problems, which Chairman West expands upon below. 

“The recently announced decision of the Commission on Presidential Debates that the second debate between President Trump and former VP Joe Biden is to be virtual is absurd. Any attempt to use President Trump’s contracting, and being medically cleared, of COVID-19 as an excuse for doing a presidential “conference call” is insidious. How many Americans have recovered from COVID-19? The facts speak for themselves, the virus has a 99.96 percent recovery rate. President Trump is one of those. This is nothing more than an attempt by the Debate Commission to tip the scale in favor of former VP Joe Biden.

The next debate was supposed to be a townhall format. These two gentlemen can still be on stage and maintain CDC guidelines for distancing. The audience asking questions, and moderator can also be properly distanced.

I stand by and support President Trump’s decision to not participate in some façade that lends itself to being manipulated. The American people deserve to see these two candidates respond, extemporaneously, to inquiries from what we hope to be a non-scripted audience.” 

It is unconscionable that the commission would allow for a debate format that is clearly biased towards one candidate. The Texas GOP applauds President Trump for calling out this farce. 

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