Trump recruits Rudy Giuliani to push for free-for-all debates where Biden and Trump ask each other questions

President Trump apparently doesn't want to skip the 2020 presidential debates anymore. He just wants to run them on his own terms.
After threatening to boycott the debates last year, Trump has pivoted and tapped his lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani to push for more of them, Politico reports. But Trump and his campaign don't want more of the traditional, moderator-led debates — they want one-on-one situations between Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden where the candidates ask each other the questions, advisers say.
Giuliani took these goals to the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates on a Thursday call with commission co-chair Frank Fahrenkopf and Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale. While the commission has already scheduled three presidential debates, Giuliani and Parscale requested a fourth one with this head-to-head style because Trump's advisers think "more debates ... mean more chances for Biden to embarrass himself," Politico writes. Biden's team wasn't onboard.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Giuliani made his goals clear in a Friday Twitter poll, asking if his followers would want to see Trump and Biden ask each other questions. About an hour after the poll was posted, the results pointed to a resounding "yes." Kathryn Krawczyk
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
September 14 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include RFK Jr on the hook, the destruction of discourse, and more
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-war
Talking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Crossword: September 14, 2025
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants