To make the first debate stage, Robert F.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s whirlwind agreement to meet for two presidential debates has upended the way the forums have been organized for nearly four decades.

Former President Donald Trump says he is eager to debate President Joe Biden, even if the debates are sponsored by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

Three debates for next year’s presidential general election are set to be held in college towns in Texas, Virginia and Utah between Sept. 16 and Oct. 9.

The Republican National Committee says it is planning a rules change that would force presidential candidates seeking the party’s nomination to sign a pledge saying they will not participate in any debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

What to know today 🌅14 days until November electionThe November General Election is just two weeks away. ClickOnDetroit has been here every step of the way in 2020, and you can count us for election coverage and results through the end of the year. Eligible Michigan citizens can register online at Michigan.gov/Vote or by mail if it is postmarked by Monday’s date. The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Michigan has risen to 147,806 as of Monday, including 7,031 deaths, state officials report. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 3.2 million have recovered in the U.S., with more than 8.1 million cases reported across the country.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden will have their microphones cut off in Thursday’s debate while their rival delivers their opening two-minute answer to each of the debate topics. The 90-minute debate is divided into six 15-minute segments, with each candidate granted two minutes to deliver uninterrupted remarks before proceeding to an open debate. The open discussion portion of the debate will not feature a mute button, but interruptions by either candidate will count toward their time in the second and final debate Thursday. The commission has faced pressure from the Trump campaign to avoid changing the rules, while Biden’s team was hoping for a more ordered debate. In a statement, the commission said it “had determined that it is appropriate to adopt measures intended to promote adherence to agreed upon rules and inappropriate to make changes to those rules.”

President Donald Trump wipes his face during a break in an NBC News Town Hall, at Perez Art Museum Miami, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, in Miami. NBC News chief executive Cesar Conde said Thursday that NBC scheduled Trump out of fairness after Biden did a town hall at the same time last Thursday. There were apparently still hard feelings, given that Muir twice mentioned a nameless “another network” holding a Trump town hall. “Has there ever been two more different presidential candidates than Trump or Biden?” asked The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler in a tweet. At a rally in North Carolina on Thursday, Trump called NBC “the worst" and said he was being set up with the town hall.

The second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden is officially off. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates confirmed Friday that the Oct. 15 faceoff would be scrapped. The decision was made a day after the commission announced the debate would take place “virtually” because Trump had contracted the coronavirus. Trump balked at holding the debate in that format, and Biden scheduled a town hall with ABC News for that night once Trump said he would not participate. The third debate, scheduled for Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee, is still on.

WASHINGTON – The second presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will take place virtually amid the fallout from the president’s diagnosis of COVID-19. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates debates made the announcement Thursday morning, a week before the two were scheduled to face on in Miami. The candidates will “participate from separate remote locations,” while the participants and moderator remain in Miami, the commission said. Trump was diagnosed with the coronavirus a week ago and said he looked forward to debating Biden on stage in Miami, saying, “It will be great!”Biden, for his part, said he and Trump “shouldn’t have a debate” as long as the president remains COVID positive. Biden told reporters in Pennsylvania that he was “looking forward to being able to debate him” but said “we’re going to have to follow very strict guidelines.”

Trump, who is eager to return to the campaign trail despite uncertainty about his health, said he wouldn’t participate if the debate wasn’t in person. The Oct. 22 debate in Nashville, Tennessee, is scheduled to feature a format similar to the first. Biden’s campaign has suggested that it be modified to the “town meeting” format, though the Trump campaign has not weighed in. As he campaigned in Arizona, Biden said he would indeed attend the Oct. 22 debate. Trump fell ill with the virus on Oct. 1, just 48 hours after sharing a stage with Biden in person during the first presidential debate in Cleveland.

MORRISTOWN, N.J. – President Donald Trump opposes changing the rules for the remaining two presidential debates against Democrat Joe Biden, but his campaign says he will attend regardless. Tuesday's opening debate in Cleveland quickly turned chaotic, with frequent interruptions by the candidates — particularly Trump. On a conference call with reporters, Trump's reelection campaign indicated that Trump would attend the remaining debates regardless of whether the rules are changed. We don’t want any changes.”He declined to issue an ultimatum that Trump would not attend if changes were made. Organizers and both campaigns expect that the format for its next presidential debate on Oct. 15 in Miami will be more orderly, as the candidates address questions asked directly to them by voters.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Commission on Presidential Debates says it’s adding new “tools to maintain order” to the upcoming debates after a chaotic first debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Trump’s frequent interruptions of the Democratic presidential nominee defined Tuesday night’s debate, with Biden frequently unable to complete a sentence. Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News pleaded with Trump several times to allow Biden to speak uninterrupted, to no avail. The nonpartisan commission has organized every general election presidential debate since 1988. In a statement, the commission said the first debate “made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues.”The commission says it “intends to ensure that additional tools to maintain order are in place for the remaining debates.”And the commission says it’s “carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measures shortly.”More coverage:

__10 p.m.Joe Biden says he’s out to cut into Republican margins of victory, even in parts of the country where he probably won’t defeat President Donald Trump. The Commission on Presidential Debates says it's adding new “tools to maintain order” to the upcoming debates after a chaotic first debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Trump’s frequent interruptions of the Democratic presidential nominee defined Tuesday night's debate, with Biden frequently unable to complete a sentence. Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News pleaded with Trump several times to allow Biden to speak uninterrupted, to no avail. Democrat Joe Biden is making stops on a train tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

WASHINGTON Representatives from Fox News, C-SPAN and NBC will moderate the upcoming debates between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. According to the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, the moderators will be:Chris Wallace of Fox News for the debate Sept. 29 in Cleveland. Steve Scully of C-SPAN for the town meeting debate Oct. 15 in Miami. NBCs Kristen Welker for the debate Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee. Trump's team has tried to pressure the commission to move up the debates, citing increased use of early and absentee voting because of the coronavirus.

WASHINGTON The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has rejected a request from the Trump campaign to either add an additional general election debate or move up the calendar for the contests. In a letter to Trump private attorney Rudy Giuliani, his liaison to the commission, the commission writes that it is committed to its existing schedule of three debates between Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, saying it would consider adding a fourth debate only if both sides agree to it. Giuliani wrote to the debate commission Wednesday requesting that the schedule be moved up on account of expanded early and mail voting because of the coronavirus pandemic. While more people will likely vote by mail in 2020, the debate schedule has been and will be highly publicized, the commission said. The commission wrote that it will adhere to our longstanding procedure of selecting the debate moderators.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. The University of Michigan will no longer host one of the three presidential debates planned for this fall ahead of the 2020 General Election. The Commission on Presidential Debates announced June 23 that the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami, Florida will host the Oct. 15 debate that had been planned for Crisler Center on U-Ms athletics campus. The CPD said in a release that the University has concluded that it is not feasible to host the presidential debate as planned.It is with great disappointment that I must ask for the University of Michigan to be released from its agreement with the Commission on Presidential Debates to host the Presidential Debate on Oct. 15, 2020, said U-M President Mark Schlissel. The other presidential debates will take place Sept 29 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and Oct. 22 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. The University of Utah in Salt Lake City will host a vice presidential debate Oct. 7.

Donald Trump and Mike Pence should do the same.Any debate proposals in lieu of that are just an effort to change the subject, avoid debates, or create a distracting debate about debates, she added. The seeming acceptance that a vast number of this years votes will be cast by mail marks a change for the campaign. Both Giuliani and Trump have criticized widespread mail voting and claimed without evidence that mail ballots are ripe for fraud. In the Monday letter, OMalley Dillon also pointed out that the Trump campaigns request for more debates marked a shift from December, when advisers were threatening that Trump might skip the debates altogether. The Trump campaign proposal for elaborate negotiations is merely an effort to dodge fair, even-handed debates, OMalley Dillon wrote.