Donald Trump agreed Friday to host the third presidential debate hosted by NBC News as the network continues to vie for TV debate slots.
This week, the Biden and Trump campaigns announced they had agreed to hold two debates in June and September, respectively, bypassing the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has hosted presidential debates for years.
But on Friday, the former president announced on Truth Social that he had agreed to participate in an additional debate hosted by NBC News and the Spanish-language network Telemundo.
The proposed third debate came as a surprise to the Biden campaign and was the result of behind-the-scenes discussions between the Trump campaign and NBC News without the participation of the Biden campaign.
NBC News contacted the Biden campaign on Wednesday to express interest in hosting the debate, according to one of the people familiar with the talks. This came after the president's team formally declined to participate in the contest sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates and sent a letter indicating that the president would participate in two debates.
But the network was slower than broadcast rivals CNN and ABC News. He filed a formal request within two hours, which both sides accepted, CNN and ABC News reported. One person familiar with the debate told Semaphore that the Biden campaign did not receive an offer from NBC until it had already agreed to a debate with CNN and ABC, and that the offer was not as detailed as those submitted by CNN and ABC. He said it was nothing.
NBC then turned its attention to whether it could secure broadcast rights to the vice presidential debate, and one source said it had “serious discussions” with Kamala Harris' team about hosting the contest. But NBC was concerned that the planned dates could conflict with the Summer Olympics broadcast schedule, and the network was hit again after the Biden campaign accepted an offer from CBS News. However, the debate remains shrouded in uncertainty. Two sources familiar with the debate told Semaphore that the Trump campaign is not open to a vice presidential debate and would instead like to see if he could participate in a debate hosted by Fox News. Thing.
Pack reported Wednesday that NBC staff was “blindsided” by the dizzying turn of events that led to his departure from the network without discussion. But the network didn't stop at securing a spot at the table. NBC News unilaterally discussed the possibility of a third debate with the Trump campaign, and the Republican presidential candidate quickly accepted. According to a person familiar with the matter, it came as a surprise to the Biden campaign, which learned of the debate proposal on Twitter.
