Trump refuses to participate in virtual presidential debate

US President Donald Trump, in his first interview since his positive coronavirus test, told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo on Thursday that he will not participate in the next debate, just minutes after the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced that the showdown, slated for Oct 15, will be virtual, reported Fox News.

The CPD announced early Thursday that "the second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which the candidates would participate from separate remote locations." Steve Scully of C-SPAN is still set to moderate the second presidential debate from Miami.

However, in the Fox Business interview, the US president said he would not take part in a virtual debate with rival Joe Biden.

"The commission changed the debate style and that's not acceptable to us," Trump said on "Mornings with Maria." "I beat him in the first debate, I beat him easily."

The president added that he expected to "beat him in the second debate also."

"I'm not going to do a virtual debate," Trump went on. "I'm not going to waste my time at a virtual debate."

According to Fox News, Biden responded to Trump's claims while talking to reporters in Delaware on Thursday.

"We don't know what the president is going to do, he changes his mind every second so for me to comment on that now would be irresponsible," said Biden. "I'm going to follow the commission recommendations."

Trump and Biden faced off on September 29 for the first round of televised debates to showcase their strengths and expose opponent weaknesses as the elections draw near.

This first of three presidential debates was held in Cleveland, Ohio, hosted by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic. The contest began at 9:00 pm EST (1:00 am GMT) and lasted about 90 minutes without commercial interruptions.

( With inputs from ANI )