‘No fair basis’ for canceling presidential debate, says Scott Atlas

‘At this point, we have to call a lie a lie’

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White House coronavirus adviser Dr Scott Atlas (Getty)
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White House coronavirus task force member Dr Scott Atlas said during a Tuesday interview with The Spectator there was ‘no fair basis’ for canceling this week’s presidential debate between President Trump and Joe Biden following the President’s coronavirus diagnosis.

‘The debate absolutely should have been able to continue. Honestly, I think there is no fair basis for canceling that debate — none,’ Atlas said.

Trump and Biden were scheduled to meet for the second time on the debate stage on Thursday in a town-hall style event moderated by Steve Scully. The Commission on Presidential Debates announced last…

White House coronavirus task force member Dr Scott Atlas said during a Tuesday interview with The Spectator there was ‘no fair basis’ for canceling this week’s presidential debate between President Trump and Joe Biden following the President’s coronavirus diagnosis.

‘The debate absolutely should have been able to continue. Honestly, I think there is no fair basis for canceling that debate — none,’ Atlas said.

Trump and Biden were scheduled to meet for the second time on the debate stage on Thursday in a town-hall style event moderated by Steve Scully. The Commission on Presidential Debates announced last week, without agreement between the two campaigns, that the debate would be conducted virtually due to health concerns raised by the President contracting the virus. Trump then said that he would not acquiesce to a virtual debate. Despite attempts to reschedule an in-person debate for the following week, the entire event was scrapped.

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Atlas pointed out that the President meets the CDC criteria for making public appearances post-COVID diagnosis, which include having no fever for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and being 10 days past the appearance of symptoms. Trump had also received back-to-back negative tests on Monday, according to his personal physician. Atlas said this suggests the Commission on Presidential Debates has an agenda other than safety, particularly the suppression of information.

‘It brings up how it’s obvious to me that the debate commission has its own agenda. And it’s not the agenda that the American people have, which is to hear the candidates for president discuss their views face to face. I think it’s a very sad commentary and, in fact, it’s dangerous for for the United States to have devolved into a situation where information is actively suppressed,’ Atlas told The Spectator.

‘It really is an overt lie to say that the debate must be canceled because the President somehow was a danger to people in attendance,’ he continued. ‘I just think that at this point, we have to call a lie a lie. And that is a lie.’