The latest on the 2020 election

President Trump's campaign manager issued a new statement today announcing they agree to a suggestion by Joe Biden's campaign to delay the second debate by a week so it can be in person.

"The [Commission on Presidential Debates] and the media cannot hide Joe Biden forever. Americans deserve to hear directly from both presidential candidates on these dates, October 22 and 29," Bill Stepien said in a statement. 

Earlier today, Trump said that he will not participate in the second presidential debate with Biden after the Commission on Presidential Debates said the event will be held virtually in the wake of the President's positive coronavirus diagnosis.

"I am not going to do a virtual debate," Trump said on Fox Business. "I am not going to waste my time on a virtual debate."

The Biden campaign is saying that because President Trump expressed that he will not participate in a virtual presidential debate next week, Joe Biden "will find an appropriate place to take questions from voters directly on Oct. 15th, as he has done on several occasions in recent weeks." 

Deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield urged the Debate Commission in a statement to move the town hall-style debate scheduled for Oct. 15 to Oct. 22 "so that the President is not able to evade accountability."

On Fox Business this morning, Trump said "I am not going to waste my time on a virtual debate."

It’s been less than a week since President Trump announced he tested positive for Covid-19. He returned from Walter Reed Medical Center this week on Monday. Unsatisfied with the temporary office space erected for him in the White House residence, where he was isolating, Trump returned to the Oval Office Wednesday.

And this morning, the President gave a 56-minute interview to Fox Business. Here are the highlights from the phone interview:

The President said he will not participate in a virtual debate.

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the second debate between President Trump and Joe Biden will be held virtually. But Trump said he won't appear.

“I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. That’s not what debating is all about,” he told Fox in an interview, calling it “ridiculous.” He lamented that the commission “didn’t even tell us about it” and that it is “trying to protect Joe Biden.”

Trump complained that he would have to “sit behind a computer” in a virtual debate and the moderator could “cut you off whenever they want.”

Trump said he doesn't believe he is contagious

"I don’t think I'm contagious, at all," he said less than a week after testing positive for coronavirus, adding that he is immune from another infection.

He attributed his recovery to being a "perfect physical specimen."

He said he’s ready to hold campaign rallies.

Less than a week after testing positive for coronavirus, he said he is ready to resume campaign rallies. He insisted he is, in fact, better than normal and is prepared to resume his campaign schedule.

"I think I’m better...to a point where I’d love to do a rally tonight. I wanted to do one last night," Trump said. "I feel perfect. There’s nothing wrong."

But then he said that he hasn't been tested for the virus.

It's unclear how the President is assessing that he is not contagious. When asked if he was recently tested, he said:

“No, I’ll be tested very soon, but I’m essentially very clean. They say it’s over a period of six, seven days,” he said. 

He called his illness "almost a gift from heaven."

Trump again praised the drugs he received at Walter Reed but said he couldn't have avoided contracting coronavirus.

"No matter how good the security you're not going to protect yourself from this thing," he said, adding later: "You catch this thing. It's particles of dust." The virus is not "particles of dust."

Some context to keep in mind: For Trump to not be contagious, it needs to have been at least 10 days, at a bare minimum, since Trump's first symptoms and 24 hours fever-free without taking medication that could reduce his fever. Trump should still be isolating, not campaigning. While he may have some degree of protection, no one can say for certain whether he is immune.  

Vice President Mike Pence and California Sen. Kamala Harris faced off in their only debate of the 2020 election campaign Wednesday night in Utah.

CNN's Randi Kaye spoke to some undecided voters earlier today to get their reaction to the debate.

Watch the conversation below:

If you missed the debate, you can watch the highlights here.

The Commission on Presidential Debates was unanimous in their decision to hold the second debate next week between President Trump and Joe Biden virtually, two members of the commission tell CNN.

Commission members met on Wednesday to discuss the proposal, where every member present (one person was absent) voted to hold the debate virtually, the members said.

The commission is made up of three co-chairs and ten members of the board of directors.

Following the announcement this morning, Trump said he would not participate in the debate.

"I am not going to do a virtual debate," Trump said on Fox Business. "I am not going to waste my time on a virtual debate."

Biden's campaign on Thursday swiftly agreed to the virtual format. 

As Vice President Mike Pence took the stage to debate Sen. Kamala Harris last night, a set of terms emerged as Americans looked up definitions during the event.

Those include pro-life, fascism, white supremacist and ineptitude, a term Harris used to describe the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic.

And for the first time in, ever, the dictionary said the word "fly," was also trending. (Here's what that means, in case anyone's wondering.) Look ups for the word spiked 3,800% on Wednesday, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

Here are some other of the most commonly searched terms:

Fracking

This word's lookups spiked a staggering 55,000% during the vice presidential debate, the dictionary said. It began trending after Pence claimed former Vice President Joe Biden planned to ban fracking.

It's defined as "the injection of fluid into shale beds at high pressure in order to free up petroleum resources (such as oil or natural gas)," according to the dictionary. It comes from the words hydraulic and fracturing.

"Hydraulic fracturing is a technique in which a liquid is injected under high pressure into a well in order to create tiny fissures in the rock deep beneath the earth which then allow gas and oil to flow into the well," the dictionary says.

The practice, forcefully opposed by environmental activists, has led to a drilling boom in the US. But Pence's point is misleading. Biden isn't running on a proposal to completely ban fracking but he has in the past suggested he was proposing to get rid of all fracking. You can read our fact check here.

Existential

According to the dictionary, searches for the word spiked 8,000% after Harris warned of the existential threat that climate change poses.

The term means "of, relating to, or affirming existence," according to the website. It can also be used to mean "grounded in existence or the experience of existence," the dictionary said.

Smarmy

Why was this trending? It could have something to do with a Twitter mention.

Former Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol wrote a Tweet referring to "Pence's cloying smarminess." And the term just took off, with lookups spiking 5,000% Wednesday, according to the dictionary.

The dictionary offers two definitions: "revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness," and "of low sleazy taste or quality."

The Commission on Presidential Debates this morning announced that next week's debate will be virtual. President Trump has said he won't participate, saying that a virtual event is "not what debating is all about."

But this wouldn't be the first time presidential candidates debated from different locations.

The third debate between then Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon in 1960 was held via remote link, according to CSPAN.

Nixon was in Los Angeles and Kennedy was in New York for the event.

"The two candidates will not be sharing the same platform," moderator Bill Shadel said at the top of the debate. "In New York, the Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kennedy. Separated by 3,000 miles, in a Los Angeles studio, the Republican presidential nominee Vice President Richard M. Nixon."

As he boarded his plane to Arizona, Joe Biden told reporters he would hold off on commenting on President Trump saying he wouldn't participate in a virtual debate because Trump "changes his mind every second."

Biden said that if the president refuses to participate, "I don't know what I'll do."  

Biden also praised Sen. Kamala Harris for her debate performance last night, saying she was "really presidential." 

"I thought Kamala did a great job last night. She was really presidential, she kept it on focus, I was really proud of her – I’m looking forward to seeing her," he said.

President Donald Trump on Thursday reacted to the vice presidential debate with sexist tropes about Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris. 

He repeatedly called Harris a “monster.”

He also called her “unlikable” and claimed she was a “Communist.”

“I thought that wasn't even a contest last night. She was terrible. She was – I don't think you could get worse. And totally unlikable, and she is. She's a communist, she's left of Bernie. She’s rated left of Bernie by everybody,” he claimed, going on to suggest that if Joe Biden were elected President, he would not last “two months.”

“She's a Communist. She's not a socialist, she's well beyond a socialist,” he said, going on to make false, fearmongering claims that Harris wants to “open up the borders to allow killers and murderers and rapists to pour into our country.”

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