Biden ready to debate Trump — on Zoom if necessary

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said Thursday that he is ready to debate President Donald Trump — be it in person or on Zoom or another online platform.

“I can hardly wait to debate Donald Trump,” Biden told supporters, according to a pool report from an online fundraiser.

“I’m ready to debate him,” the former vice president said. “Zoom or Skype or Slack or Hangouts or in person, anytime, anywhere he wants.”

Biden’s final debate with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders during the race for the Democratic nomination was held on March 15 without a live audience because of the coronavirus epidemic.

With the United States still in the grip of the virus, questions have been raised about the logistics of an eventual Biden-Trump debate ahead of the November election.

During the fundraiser, Biden also criticized Trump’s response to the coronavirus outbreak that has claimed nearly 50,000 lives in the United States.

“This president can’t stop talking about himself, asking governors to thank him for what he’s doing for them,” Biden said.

“Thank him? Come on!” he said. “It’s always about how this crisis affects him, about how it’s not his job to fix it.

“He’s President of the United States of America, it’s his responsibility to lead our nation through this,” Biden said. “This isn’t about politics.”

The 73-year-old Trump fired back at the 77-year-old Biden during the daily White House coronavirus briefing when he was asked by AFP about the upcoming election.

“I can’t tell you what’s going to happen with the election,” Trump said.

“We have a sleepy guy in a basement of a house that the press is giving a free pass to, who doesn’t want to do debates because of COVID,” he said. “They’re keeping him sheltered because of the coronavirus and he’s not moving around, he’s not moving too much.”

Trump accused the media of not covering the “great job we’ve done,” but added, “With all of that I’m doing fine.” AFP