Rudy Giuliani among Trump's team negotiating to increase the number of presidential debates: report

Unpaid Donald Trump defense attorney Rudy Giuliani was among the members of the president's team trying to increase the number of presidential debates.

"Top aides to President Trump tried on Thursday to negotiate with the commission overseeing presidential debates to increase the number of times that Mr. Trump and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. face off in the fall," The New York Times reported Thursday.

While the commission usually organizes three debates, the Trump campaign wants four debates.

"The online meeting featured Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer; his campaign manager, Brad Parscale; and another senior campaign official, Michael Glassner. They met with Frank Fahrenkopf, the co-founder and co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said the person briefed on the meeting, who was not authorized to speak publicly," the newspaper reported. "Mr. Giuliani did not respond to a message seeking comment."

It is traditional for a candidate who thinks they are losing the race to ask for more debates as a mechanism to increase their standing among voters.

"The Trump campaign’s posture marks a departure from what the president’s advisers were discussing last year. Back then, as the Democratic primary season was intensifying, Mr. Trump’s advisers discussed whether the president would even take part in debates sponsored by the commission," The Times reported. "But since then, the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and a global recession, combined with the Trump administration’s failures responding to the virus, have changed Mr. Trump’s standing in the race. In all recent national surveys and many state surveys, Mr. Trump trails Mr. Biden."

Read the full report.