The Commission on Presidential Debates will meet Monday afternoon to discuss potential rule changes to the final contest between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, two members of the commission tell CNN.
“We are going to consider what changes we are going to make with regards to the debate on Thursday night,” one commission member said. The member added that there is a chance no changes are made, saying the conversation will be on “wat, indien enige, changes will be made.”
The commission members did not tell CNN on Monday what changes were being considered in the meeting.
After a chaotic first debate where Trump frequently flouted the rules and interrupted Biden, the commission acknowledged the chaos and said it would look into rule changes in order to “ensure a more orderly discussion.” The commission had said after the first debate that they would announce the changes “shortly.”
The meeting, egter, comes weeks after that first match up and just days before the Thursday’s debate.
The commission’s second presidential debate was canceled after Trump declined to participate in a virtual contest, a change that was made because of his positive coronavirus diagnosis.
“The Commission on Presidential Debates sponsors televised debates for the benefit of the American electorate. Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues,” a September 30 statement from the CPD reads.
The commission, op daardie stadium, did not specify what changes they would be making, but their statement at the time said they intended “to ensure that additional tools to maintain order are in place for the remaining debates.”
The commission will also certify that both Trump and Biden have met the 15% polling threshold needed to qualify for the debate at the Monday meeting.
Biden has made clear that he wants the debate commission to change the rules ahead of the third contest, and said the way Trump conducted himself at the first debate was a “national embarrassment.”
“I just hope there’s a way in which the debate commission can control the ability of us to answer the questions without interruptions,” Biden said the day after the first debate.
The Trump campaign has come out against any changes to the rules. Campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told CNN in a statement after the first debate that the commission “shouldn’t be moving the goalposts and changing the rules in the middle of the game.”
