Former Vice President Joe Biden says he will go head-to-head with President Donald Trump in a presidential debate if the commission overseeing the debates continues on the “straight and narrow.”
“Would you consider not debating the president?” MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked the Democratic nominee Thursday after playing a clip showing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi recommend that Biden not participate in any debates with Trump.
“No, as long as the commission continues down the street and narrow, as they have, I’m going to debate him,” Biden responded. “Now I know for certain I’m going to be a fact checker on the floor while I’m debating him, in fact.”
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Joe Biden says he will debate President Trump “as long as the commission continues down the straight and narrow..”
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He added, “But look, the one thing that’s going on so far is the vast majority, with notable exceptions, of the news media have been fact checking the things they’ve been saying during the convention, and it’s just one lie after another. Lying lying, lying, lying, one after another.”
“But the debates are going to take place, I’ve been recommended to me by a number of very competent people who know their way around, including leading Republicans, that I shouldn’t debate Trump unless there’s a fact checker on the ground, in there in the debates saying ‘that’s true, that’s not true.’”
Biden concluded, “But look, I think everybody knows this man has a somewhat pathological tendency not to tell the truth.”
Pelosi recommended Thursday that Biden avoid the debates altogether so as to not “legitimize” Trump. (RELATED: Pelosi On Presidential Debates: ‘I Don’t Think There Should Be Any’)
“I don’t think there should be any debates,” Pelosi said. “I wouldn’t legitimize a conversation with him, nor a debate in terms of the presidency of the United States,” she said.
Biden’s campaign has consistently said that he will face Trump in three presidential debates before the election on November 3.
Currently, Biden leads the president by 7.1%, according to RealClearPolitics national polling average. However, Trump has begun picking up speed in several key states including Florida, Wisconsin, and Arizona where he’s only down by approximately 3%.