Biden campaign deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield on Tuesday claimed that President Donald Trump’s team asked debate moderator Chris Wallace not to mention the number of people who have died from COVID-19 during his presidency.

Bedingfield revealed the detail of debate negotiations after the Trump campaign reportedly demanded that Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s ears be inspected for listening devices, a conspiracy theory that was quickly repeated on Fox News.

“If we’re playing that game then the Trump team asked that Chris Wallace never mention the number of COVID deaths once during the debate,” Bedingfield said, according to reports.

“You can consider that confirmed from the Biden campaign. See how easy that was to try to throw up a distraction?” she added.

It was not immediately clear if Bedingfield was serious about her allegation or if she made it to make a point about the wild claims made by the Trump team.

The Biden campaign pushed back on this saying he won’t be wearing an earpiece and they never asked for breaks.

Deputy CM Kate Bedingfield: “If we’re playing that game then the Trump team asked that Chris Wallace never mention the number of COVID deaths once during the debate.” https://t.co/4SitfRTWDI

— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) September 29, 2020

In addition to Trump’s request that debate officials *inspect Biden’s ear for an earpiece* pre-debate, Biden comms director @KBeds said the Trump camp also asked Chris Wallace not mention the 200K US COVID deaths.

Bedingfeld calls it an attempt to win on process over substance.

— Kara Voght (@karavoght) September 29, 2020

Biden spox @KBeds appeared to deny Trump camp claims that Biden reneged on an agreement to allow a 3rd-party inspection to ensure he’s not wearing an earpiece to receive talking points. She made a wild claim: Trump’s camp demanded moderator not mention the 205k+ covid deaths 1/x

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) September 29, 2020

Biden campaigns’s @kbeds, responding to Trump claims that Biden won’t agree to an ear inspection and wants breaks ever 30 minutes: “Of course he’s not wearing an earpiece and we never asked for breaks.”

— Matt Viser (@mviser) September 29, 2020

“If we’re playing that game, then you know, the Trump team asked Chris Wallace not to mention the number of deaths from covid once during the debate,” adds @kbeds. “You can consider that confirmed from the Biden campaign. See how easy that was to try to throw up a distraction?”

— Matt Viser (@mviser) September 29, 2020

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