The Commission on Presidential Debates is reacting to criticism from the Trump campaign about its debate schedule.
The non-partisan entity, which announced dates and locations for three debates end of last yearresponded Wednesday to Trump campaign officials who called the timeline “unacceptable.”
“The CPD has just one mission: to sponsor and produce general election debates that inform and educate the public,” it said in a statement. “Our programming was designed with this single mission in mind.”
The first debate is scheduled for September 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos.
The Trump campaign said in a statement Tuesday that the commission’s timeline does not begin “until millions of Americans have already voted.”
The overwhelming majority of states will not have started mailing absentee ballots by the first debate. While some states begin mailing absentee ballots in early September, most begin mailing them a month and a half before the election, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. This year’s Election Day falls on November 5th.
“As it always does, the CPD considered multiple factors in selecting the debate dates in order to make them accessible to the American public,” the commission said. “These factors include religious and federal holidays, early voting, and the dates on which individual states close their polls.”
“The CPD purposefully chose September 16th after a comprehensive study of early voting rules in all states,” he added, noting that the September debate will be the “oldest televised general election debate ever held.”
Trump’s campaign co-managers, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, responded to the commission’s response by reiterating their criticism.
They said Tuesday they are “committed to making this happen with or without the Presidential Debate Commission.”
The commission, launched in 1987, sponsored every presidential debate for decades.
President Joe Biden said in an interview last week that he would be “happy to debate” Trump.
Trump, who skipped all of the 2024 Republican Party primary debates, later posted on social media about his willingness to debate, writing in all caps, “anywhere, anytime, anywhere.”
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
