RNC chair: If Biden doesn't debate, 'he should be disqualified from actually running for president'

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Tuesday criticized the growing media push to scrap the presidential debates this fall.

McDaniel argued that media figures are acting on behalf of the Biden campaign in making those demands and that Biden refusing to debate Trump in the lead-up to the 2020 election would be "disqualifying."

Commentators in the New York Times, on CNN, on Twitter and elsewhere have in recent weeks called for the presidential debates to be scrapped, a demand some conservatives have accused of being a cynical effort to protect Biden from the risk of on-air gaffes and mistakes. 

Talking with Stuart Varney on Fox Business on Tuesday, McDaniel argued that Biden himself "doesn't want to debate" and that his supporters themselves are "afraid to put him on a debate stage."

"I just want to say this," she added, "I think it is disqualifying. If you cannot debate in front of the American people, and make your case as to why you should be President, as to why you should go up against people like Putin or Xi, then you should not be President."

"I think if he doesn't debate, if he doesn't do all three [debates], he should be disqualified from actually running for President," McDaniel added.

The Trump campaign over the summer has pushed for additional debates with Biden on top of the three traditionally held in the early fall.