Trump Claims He Wants to Debate Clinton ‘Very Badly’ but He Has ‘Demands’

‘I Renegotiated the Debates in the Primaries, Remember?’

As soon as the general election began Donald Trump took to Twitter to complain about the dates of the presidential debates – which have been set since last year by an independent commission that exists to ensure there are debates and that they are fair – and to accuse Hillary Clinton of rigging them. Both parties reportedly had already agreed to the dates and terms.

But ever since, rumors have been flying that Trump will ultimately refuse to debate his Democratic opponent. Some (including us) say he’s afraid to debate Clinton. 

It’s become such an issue that Monday night the Clinton campaign issued a scathing statement essentially goading Trump. “The only issue now is whether Donald Trump is going to show up,” Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said.

Now, Trump is responding.

“I will absolutely do three debates,” Trump told TIME magazine in a phone interview Tuesday. “I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions.”

“I renegotiated the debates in the primaries, remember? They were making a fortune on them and they had us in for three and a half hours and I said that’s ridiculous,” Trump added, responding more as a celebrity than as a candidate eager to make their case to the American public. “I’m sure they’ll be open to any suggestions I have, because I think they’ll be very fair suggestions. But I haven’t [seen the conditions] yet. They’re actually presented to me tonight.”

Unsurprisingly, given his history of attacks on Fox News host Megyn Kelly, Trump is demanding control over who the moderators are.

“I’ll have to see who the moderators are. Yeah, I would say that certain moderators would be unacceptable, absolutely,” Trump said. “I did very well in the debates on the primaries. According to the polls, I won all of them.”

(That’s actually false.)

“So I look forward to the debates. But, yeah, I want to have fair moderators … I will demand fair moderators.”

Some responses via Twitter, including this analysis via Talking Points Memo editor Josh Marshall:

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Image by Disney | ABC Television Group via Flickr and a CC license