Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said that while President Biden is a “great debater,” he has concerns about Biden debating Donald Trump due to Trump’s propensity for “lies.”
Pritzker argued it would be difficult for Biden to respond to falsehoods within the time constraints of a debate.
“Let’s let the courts have their say about Donald Trump’s crimes and I don’t think that Joe Biden needs to be talking about that when he can remind people about what’s at stake for their future when they go into the ballot box at in November,” Pritzker said.
He also praised Biden’s understanding of issues and ability to lay out a vision compared to Trump not reading policy details.
This comes as the Trump campaign has pushed for earlier presidential debates this year, noting how early voting starts.
“There is a lot of talk about whether there will be a debate between the president and the former president. Would you encourage Joe Biden to debate Donald Trump?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked.
“Look, I think we are used to having debates, there’s no doubt. I will say that whenever I look at Donald Trump’s debating style, he lies and lies and lies. It’s so hard to respond to that the middle of a debate. You only have 30 seconds or 60 seconds to respond. Do you talk about what you want to do for the future or do you respond to the lies that have come out of Donald Trump’s mouth every minute?” Pritzker said.
“So I’m concerned about that just to be honest with you. But I also think that Joe Biden is a terrific debater. He understands the issues. Donald Trump doesn’t read, doesn’t understand any of these issues. And so he’ll just prevaricate the entire time while Joe Biden is actually showing people great future for the United States.”
While debates are traditionally held in the fall, Trump officials want them to occur sooner to influence more pre-election voters.
“While the Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced three presidential debates and a vice-presidential debate to occur later this year, we are in favor of these debates beginning much earlier,” Trump campaign co-chairs Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita wrote.
Wiles and LaCivita said that “voting is beginning earlier and earlier, and as we saw in 2020, tens of millions of Americans had already voted by the time of the first debate.”
Pritzker expressed wariness about Biden directly engaging with Trump’s debate style of repeated misinformation.
