Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is standing behind the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) after the commission announced the final debate would feature a mute button to allow each candidate to speak without being interrupted.
During an interview with Milwaukee’s ABC affiliate WISN, Biden expressed his support for the decision and argued there needs to be more limitations.
“I think it’s a good idea. I think there should be more limitations on us not interrupting one another,” Biden said.
He added, “If you noticed last time, according to Chris Wallace, he interrupted the president and me 148 times. I think that’s right.”
Watch his comments below:
Biden indicated President Donald Trump would focus his energy on attacking him during the final debate instead of policy issues.
“I hope he is going to come prepared to talk about what he’s for, but my guess is, he’s kind of signaling that it’s all going to be about personal attacks because he doesn’t want to talk about why he’s taking away health care at the very time we’re in the middle of a pandemic, why he has no plan for health care, why he hasn’t provided the money to allow businesses the ability to reopen, why he’s not dealing with unemployment, etc.,” Biden said.
He continued, “But I’m going to try very hard to focus on the issues that affect the American people, and talk to them.”
According to the CPD, both candidates’ microphones will be muted while the other delivers remarks for two minutes at the start of each 15-minute segment as IJR previously reported. After their statements, the microphones will be turned on again to allow back-and-forth.
Commission co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf defended the decision during an interview on Brian Kilmeade’s radio show, as IJR previously reported/
It’s not a new rule,” he said. “The campaigns agreed early on, going back to June of this year when we announced what the formats were going to be for the… debates. And they both agreed to live with it. It provides, very clearly, that the first four minutes on each of the six segments — each candidate gets to speak for two minutes without interruption. So that’s the rule. And that’s been the rule.”