The RNC accused the committee, which has been repeatedly attacked by Donald Trump, of being biased against the Democrats. The bipartisan committee, which was set up in 1987 and has hosted the debates since 1988, has denied the allegations. In a statement Thursday, RNC President Ronna McDaniel said her party was “committed to free and fair debate,” but that it would be conducted through other platforms. He did not specify them. “Debates are an important part of the democratic process … We will find newer, better discussion platforms to ensure that future candidates do not have to go through the biased CPD to express their views to the American people,” he said. McDaniel said the committee had refused to make any changes requested by the RNC, including hosting pre-voting debates and selecting moderators who had never worked for candidates during the debate. The latter was a reference to C-SPAN 2020 aspiring host Steve Scully, who was Joe Biden’s intern for a month in 1978, when Biden was a Delaware senator. The Scully debate was scheduled to soften, which was canceled after Trump objected to its conduct, largely because of concerns about the coronavirus. Representatives of the Committee on Presidential Debates and the Democratic National Committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday. In January, after McDaniel sent a letter to the panel discussing that the RNC had lost confidence in the organization, CPD Co-Chair Frank J. Fahrenkopf said the RNC “wanted to control things we are not prepared to let them control.” ». He also noted that the committee deals “directly” with the candidates for president and vice-president who meet the conditions for the general election debates, not with their party organizations. “The CPD’s plans for 2024 will be based on justice, neutrality and a firm commitment to helping the American public learn about candidates and issues,” Fahrenkopf said in a statement. Trump’s repeated attacks on the commission during the 2020 election have caused at least one member of the commission – a Republican – to violate his “strict oath of silence” about his personal feelings about the presidential campaign. John S. Danforth then wrote that Trump’s accusations were simply wrong and contributed to the eroded confidence in the democratic process. He also defended the coordinators selected by the committee as “highly professional and experienced”. “Some have suggested that the Presidential Debates Committee be dissolved and that in future campaigns the candidates simply negotiate the rules of the debate with each other,” Danforth wrote at the time. “Good luck with that.” John Wagner and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.
