#Trump taps Rudy Giuliani to lobby for another presidential debate

The Trump campaign wants to add another presidential debate to the three that are already scheduled — and has put Rudy Giuliani in charge of lobbying for the added contest.

The campaign wants the debates to begin earlier than usual, and also wants to have a say in who the moderators would be, Politico reported.

Fox News later confirmed that Giuliani — who served as one of President Trump’s lawyers during his impeachment — joined campaign manager Brad Parscale on a call Thursday with members of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which organizes and holds the contests.

Parscale argued that because of the expected increase in voting by mail — which Trump alleges is ripe for corruption — there should be an added debate and that it should be scheduled before Labor Day.

In a statement to the New York Times, Parscale said: “We want fair debates. We want them sooner and we want a bigger schedule. We also don’t want them up against football games competing for viewers. As many Americans as possible need to see the stark differences between the accomplishments and leadership of President Trump and the failed record and sleepiness of Joe Biden.”

The Biden campaign flatly rejects the idea, saying they would abide by the commission’s rulings on timing and who will moderate the contests.

“We are not going to ride the roller coaster of the ever-changing Trump campaign position on debates, nor are we going to be distracted by his demands,” Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, told Fox.

“We will make this simple: like every other Democratic and Republican candidate since 1992, we will show up for the debates set by the Commission on Presidential Debates, at the places they have selected, on the dates they have selected, with the formats and moderators they designate — so long as Donald Trump does the same, and does not intimidate the Commission into changes from past practices.”

Giuliani, meanwhile, floated his own ideas of what a debate between the president and former veep should look like — a mano-a-mano slugfest between the pair with moderators who would only step in if things got ugly.

“Would you like to see a real debate where @realDonaldTrump and Joe Biden ask each other questions? The Moderator would just keep time and brake them up when they get in clinches,” he tweeted Friday morning, using a boxing analogy.

“We would love to see if BASEMENT JOE can ask, and answer intelligent questions.”

The commission has scheduled three debates: Sept. 29 at the University of Notre Dame, Oct. 15 at the University of Michigan and Oct. 22 at Belmont University in Nashville.