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Donald Trump’s Campaign Seeks Earlier Date For First Debate, Gives Suggestions For Potential Moderators

Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is requesting that the first presidential debate between the president and Joe Biden be held in early September, while it has provided organizers with a list of recommended moderators.

The list, below, is heavy in Fox News personalities, yet does not include Chris Wallace. He moderated a debate in the 2016 cycle, but recently interviewed Trump for Fox News Sunday in a widely praised hour-long exchange in which he, at multiple points, fact-checked the president’s assertions.

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Trump’s campaign argues that the first debate, now scheduled for Sept. 29, will take place after early voting has begun in 16 states. Two other presidential debates are scheduled for Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. The Trump campaign also continued its call for debate planners to a fourth debate to the schedule in early September, but said that if that does not happen, the Oct. 22 event should be moved to that date.

A vice presidential debate also is scheduled for Oct. 7.

“Simply put, the Commission’s current approach is an outdated dinosaur and not reflective of voting realities in 2020,” Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, wrote to the Commission on Presidential Debates.

“For a nation already deprived of a traditional campaign schedule because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, it makes no sense to also deprive so many Americans of the opportunity to see and hear the two competing visions for our country’s future before millions of votes have been cast,” Giuliani wrote. Axios first reported the news on the letter.

Biden’s campaign has already agreed to the debate as scheduled.

Since 1988, the debates are organized by the bipartisan Commission On Presidential Debates. They also are in charge of selecting moderators. In the last cycle, Trump also complained that the debate schedule and that the process was biased against him.

The commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The list of figures suggested by the Trump campaign also excludes others who moderated in 2016: NBC News’ Lester Holt, ABC News’ Martha Raddatz and CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

The campaign did recommend two other broadcast news anchors, David Muir of ABC News and Norah O’Donnell of CBS News, along with Hoda Kotb, the co-host of Today.

The list of the Trump campaign’s recommended moderators is below:

Bret Baier, Fox News
Gerry Baker, The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business
Maria Bartiromo, Fox News, Fox Business
Shannon Bream, Fox News
David Brody, CBN
Rachel Campos-Duffy, Fox News
Kevin Cirilli, Bloomberg TV
Larry Elder, Salem Radio Network
Saagar Enjeti, The Hill
Harris Faulkner, Fox News
Major Garrett, CBS News
Michael Goodwin, New York Post, Fox News
Ambrosio Hernandez, Univision
Joe Kernen, CNBC
Hoda Kotb, NBC News
Susan Li, Fox Business, Fox News
Bill Hemmer, Fox News
Hugh Hewitt, Salem Radio Network
Tom Llamas, ABC News
Dagen McDowell, Fox Business, Fox News
David Muir, ABC News
Norah O’Donnell, CBS News
Charles Payne, Fox Business, Fox News
Rick Santelli, CNBC

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