Donald Trump is promising to participate in three presidential debates this fall but is floating the possibility that he could protest the debates’ conditions.
{mosads}“I will absolutely do three debates. … I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions,” Trump said Tuesday in a phone interview with Time magazine.
“I’m sure they’ll be open to any suggestions I have, because I think they’ll be very fair suggestions.”
Trump specifically told the magazine that he may object to the Commission on Presidential Debates’ moderator choices, noting that “certain moderators would be unacceptable.”
The GOP nominee has questioned the debates’ schedule, set a year in advance, because two will compete with primetime NFL games. Those protests led to questions as to whether Trump would participate in the debates or try to use the schedule as leverage.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign released a statement Monday night agreeing to participate in all of the commission’s debate and needling Trump for waffling.
“It is concerning that the Trump campaign is already engaged in shenanigans around these debates. It is not clear if he is trying to avoid debates, or merely toying with the press to create more drama,” campaign Chairman John Podesta said in a statement.
“We will accept the commission’s invitation and expect Donald Trump to do the same.”