Trump will do debates, campaign manager says

by Jesse Byrnes - 08/18/16 7:44 PM ET

Donald Trump’s newly named campaign manager said Thursday evening that the Republican nominee will appear in the three scheduled presidential debates this fall.

“Yes, absolutely, we are going to do those debates,” Kellyanne Conway said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball” with Chris Matthews.

{mosads}”Record ratings, right Chris? I think we’ll all be very excited for those debates,” she said, confirming the campaign would participate in the 90-minute debates.

Trump has been reluctant to say whether he’ll officially participate in the debates starting next month, saying while he wanted to participate, he also he wanted to see if a fair moderator was chosen.

“That’s all I’m looking for,” the Republican nominee told Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren last week. He added that he didn’t think the debate should be held opposite NFL games, which he has criticized despite the dates for the debates being established last year.

Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign said earlier this month she would attend the three scheduled general election debates.

The first presidential debate will be held Sept. 26 at Hofstra University in New York, followed by two more: Oct. 9 at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., and Oct. 19 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. A vice presidential debate will be held Oct. 4 in Virginia.

Conway on Thursday accused Clinton of being unable to defend her positions on issues such as poverty, ObamaCare and education policy.

“I’d put it all aside if she would actually come out of hiding and have a debate on the issues,” Conway said, prompting the question about the debates.

Tags 2016 presidential debates 2016 presidential election Donald Trump Hillary Clinton