Debate Commission Announces Plans for Virtual Debate; Trump Says He Won’t Participate

Next Thursday’s presidential debate will be virtual, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced moments ago. The news comes as a result of President Trump’s positive COVID-19 diagnosis.

However, President Trump says he won't participate in a virtual debate.

"I am not going to do a virtual debate," Trump said in an interview with Fox Business around 8 am on Thursday. "I am not going to waste my time on a virtual debate."

The debate is scheduled for a week from today (October 15). The Commission on Presidential Debates originally said that President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden would be in separate remote locations. The debate's moderator, Steve Scully, will be at the event's original location -- Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami, Florida, they say.

"The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which the candidates would participate from separate remote locations," the commission said in a statement issued Thursday morning.

President Trump was discharged earlier this week from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he underwent treatment for symptoms related to the coronavirus. Trump revealed his positive diagnosis overnight last Thursday.

"The town meeting participants and the moderator, Steve Scully, Senior Executive Producer & Political Editor, C-SPAN Networks, will be located at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami, Florida.”

It's not clear what will happen now that Trump has not publicly agreed to the debate.