President Donald Trump requested that he and Joe Biden be checked for earpieces before their first debate.
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Trump will be debating former vice president Biden tonight in a forum hosted by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio. Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday will moderate. It will be the first of their three agreed upon debates but Trump made an unusual request before the first question was even uttered.
The president wanted to the ears of each candidate checked with the insinuation being that Biden would be fed answers, Fox News reported on Tuesday. According to theGrio Trump also recently demanded that his challenger take a drug test.
“Joe Biden’s handlers several days ago agreed to a pre-debate inspection for electronic earpieces but today abruptly reversed themselves and declined. Biden’s handlers have asked for multiple breaks during the debate, which President Trump doesn’t need, so we have rejected that request,” Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.
“On top of the refusal to take a drug test, it seems pretty obvious that the Biden team is looking for any safety net they can find in the hours leading up to the debate. With his 47 years as a failed Washington politician, how much help does Biden want?”
The Biden campaign was quick to call the demand of an ear check “absurd” and also denied that Biden needed breaks during the 90-minute debate.
“His staff seems concerned that he may not do well tonight and they’re already laying the groundwork for how they’re going to lie about why,” Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, told reporters. “It is completely absurd. Of course, he’s not wearing an earpiece and we never asked for breaks.”
Bedingfield also brought up the Trump campaign requesting in a tongue-in-cheek manner that Wallace not mention the deaths attributed to COVID-19.
“If we’re playing that game, the Trump team asked that Chris Wallace never mention the number of COVID deaths once during the debate. You can consider that confirmed from the Biden campaign. See how easy that was to try and throw out a distraction. It is pathetic. It’s weak. Once again the Trump campaign is lying. They’re going to process because they don’t want to debate Joe Biden on the substance. You go to process when you can’t go to substance.”
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The first presidential debate will air live tonight at 9 p.m. across all the major broadcast channels, cable news, and on social media.
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