ouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Thursday that former Vice President Joe Biden cancel his three scheduled debates with President Trump because the commander-in-chief would "belittle" the forum and engage in "skullduggery."
"I don't think that there should be any debates," Pelosi said out of the blue at a news conference at the Capitol, saying she doesn't want the debates to be "an exercise in skullduggery."
"I wouldn't legitimize a conversation with him, nor a debate in terms of the presidency of the United States. Now I know that the Biden campaign thinks in a different way about this."
Pelosi is the latest high-profile Democrat to offer a major piece of advice to the former vice president. Earlier this week, former 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said Biden shouldn't concede the race under any circumstances.
Pelosi made the comment at her weekly news conference, unprompted, and her advice was not in response to a question about debates. She cited Trump's "disgraceful" performance at the 2016 debate when he was "stalking" Clinton as one reason Biden should break tradition and sit out the debates.
"So I think that he'll probably act in a way that is beneath the dignity of the presidency; he does that every day," Pelosi said. "But I think it will also belittle what the debates are supposed to be about. And they're not to be about skullduggery on the part of somebody who has no respect for the office he holds, much less the democratic process.
"Why else would he try to undermine the elections in the manner in which he is doing? So, if Joe Biden asked me what I thought about it, [I'd say] I don't think that he should dignify that conversation with Donald Trump."
The Biden campaign already agreed to three debates in September and October in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, in addition to a vice-presidential debate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pe...-i-wouldnt-legitimize-a-conversation-with-him
"I don't think that there should be any debates," Pelosi said out of the blue at a news conference at the Capitol, saying she doesn't want the debates to be "an exercise in skullduggery."
"I wouldn't legitimize a conversation with him, nor a debate in terms of the presidency of the United States. Now I know that the Biden campaign thinks in a different way about this."
Pelosi is the latest high-profile Democrat to offer a major piece of advice to the former vice president. Earlier this week, former 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said Biden shouldn't concede the race under any circumstances.
Pelosi made the comment at her weekly news conference, unprompted, and her advice was not in response to a question about debates. She cited Trump's "disgraceful" performance at the 2016 debate when he was "stalking" Clinton as one reason Biden should break tradition and sit out the debates.
"So I think that he'll probably act in a way that is beneath the dignity of the presidency; he does that every day," Pelosi said. "But I think it will also belittle what the debates are supposed to be about. And they're not to be about skullduggery on the part of somebody who has no respect for the office he holds, much less the democratic process.
"Why else would he try to undermine the elections in the manner in which he is doing? So, if Joe Biden asked me what I thought about it, [I'd say] I don't think that he should dignify that conversation with Donald Trump."
The Biden campaign already agreed to three debates in September and October in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, in addition to a vice-presidential debate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pe...-i-wouldnt-legitimize-a-conversation-with-him
