Joe Biden rejects skipping Donald Trump debates, vows to fact check

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says he won't skip debates with President Donald Trump this fall, vowing he'll use the opportunity to confront his rival and be a fact checker on the floor."

Biden said Thursday there's no question the debates will take place, after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters earlier in the day that she didn't think Biden should debate the president at all. Pelosi said she knows she disagrees with Biden on this, but she doesn't think he should legitimize a conversation with Trump.

The Democratic nominee has repeatedly said he is eager to take on the president.

 

Here's the deal with bullies, I understand how they work, Biden said on CNN.

And I'm going to play by the rules of the debate commission and we're going to have a debate.

In a separate interview on MSNBC, Biden said he's going to be a fact checker on the floor during the debates and he thinks the media will fact check Trump as well.

Pelosi said she believes Trump will probably act in a way that is beneath the dignity of the presidency and belittle what the debates are supposed to be about.

She said a 2016 debate between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton was disgraceful as Trump stood close behind Clinton as she spoke, moving into her camera angle. Pelosi says Trump was stalking Clinton and should have been told to move away.

Instead, Pelosi suggests the two candidates have individual events where they take questions.

Let that be a conversation with the American people, she said. Not an exercise in skullduggery. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates recently rejected a request from the Trump campaign either to add a fourth debate or move up the three already scheduled. Trump's campaign said 16 states will have started voting by the time of the first debate on Sept. 29.

Trump is set to accept the Republican presidential nomination Thursday night.