Washington: US President Donald Trump has opposed possible changes to the format of the two remaining presidential debates with his Democratic rival Joe Biden after the first one September 29 quickly escalated into chaos.
Taking to Twitter on Thursday, the President said: “Why would I allow the Debate Commission to change the rules for the second and third debates when I easily won last time?
“I won the debate big, based on compilation of polls etc. Thank you.”
His tweet came a day after the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) said that they were mulling changes to the format in an effort to ensure that the remaining two encounters were less chaotic.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, CPD said: “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.”
It further said that it was “carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly”, without elaborating further.
During their first 90-minute presidential debate on Tuesday night which took a chaotic turn, insults such as “clown”, “liar”, “just shush for a minute” and “keep yapping” took centre-stage as the two rivals tore into each other in the presence Fox News anchor and moderator Chris Wallace.
The President frequently interrupted and heckled Biden, ignoring repeated pleas from Wallace, for Trump to stick to his allotted time, CNN reported.
Following the heckling, at one point, told the President: “Will you shut up, man?”
Also Thursday during a call with reporters, the President’s campaign manager Bill Stepien, said: “Joe Biden is a creature of this city. He’s been cozying up to this city’s wheelers, dealers and insiders for the last half-century. And lo and behold, that’s exactly who runs this commission,” NBC News reported.
Campaign spokesman Jason Miller calling them “permanent swamp monsters”.
IANS