President Donald Trump criticized the Presidential Debate Committee as “very biased” on Monday, suggesting he might avoid working with its members for the presidential debates in 2020.
“The problem is that the so-called Commission on Presidential Debates is stacked with Trump Haters and Never Trumpers,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
The debate commission is filled with former establishment politicians, business leaders, and media figures as well as Democrat activists.
The debate committee co-chairs are the former chairman of the Republican National Committee Frank Fahrenkopf and former President of the League of Women Voters Dorothy Ridings. Former President of the National Democratic Institute Kenneth Wollack, who also served as an advisor for the George McGovern presidential campaign in 1972 was appointed as a third co-chair in October 2019.
The Board of Directors of the debate commission also include former Republican Senator John C. Danforth of Missouri, former ABC News host Charlie Gibson, former PBS News anchor Jim Lehrer, Managing Director of Cove Hill Partners Yvonne Hao, Former Democrat Congresswoman Jane Harman, former Ted Kennedy staffer and Latino activist Antonia Hernandez, Managing director of Allen & Co. LLC John Griffen, University of Notre Dame President Reverend John I. Jenkins, former FEC Chairman Newton N. Minow, former CEO of Time Warner Dick Parsons, and former Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine.
Honorary commission co-chairs include former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Jimmy Carter.
President Trump did not confirm his participation in the presidential debates, which have already been scheduled by the commission.
“As President, the debates are up to me, and there are many options, including doing them directly and avoiding the nasty politics of this very biased Commission,” he wrote.
He also warned the commission that they were not authorized to speak on his behalf.
“I will make a decision at an appropriate time but in the meantime, the Commission on Presidential Debates is NOT authorized to speak for me (or Republicans,)” he wrote.
Trump also recalled he had microphone problems the first debate in 2016 with then-Democrat candidate for president Hillary Clinton, an error publicly acknowledged by the debate committee.
The president said he looked forward to debating the Democrat nominee in 2020 and even proposed the idea of attending six debates.
“I look very much forward to debating whoever the lucky person is who stumbles across the finish line in the little-watched Do Nothing Democrat Debates,” he wrote.