The Trump campaign wants more campaign debates between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden and it wants them to start sooner, campaign manager Bill Stepien said Monday.
"The first debate is scheduled by Sept. 29," said Stepien on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "By that time, 16 states will already have been voting. That's a concern for me."
Joe Lockhart, former press secretary under President Bill Clinton, has said in a CNN opinion piece and commented over the weekend that Biden shouldn't debate Trump, calling it a "fool's errand to enter the ring with someone who can't follow the rules or the truth."
Stepien said that comment marked yet another attempt from the left and liberal media to "create trap doors for Joe Biden to escape his commitment and his obligation to debate Donald Trump on a debate stage in front of the American people."
Stepien also commented on statements made over the weekend by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., calling for Democrats to come together to elect Biden and saying that Biden's administration would be "the most progressive administration that it can become."
"I don't agree with Bernie Sanders on much but I think he laid out the case for the Biden presidency and what measures we can expect should he somehow get elected," said Stepien.
Meanwhile, Biden must be judged by "the people he has surrounded himself with at every step of his campaign," said Stepien, as "he is an empty vessel of the radical left."
The Trump campaign is rolling out new ads focusing on Biden's progressive leanings after last week temporarily halting ad spending while it reviews its messaging strategy.
One of the ads shows how the "radical left" has taken over Biden and the Democratic Party, said Stepien.
"In that ad, you see exactly what a Joe Biden administration will bring to America," said Stepien. "Defunding or reimagination of the police, $4 trillion in new and higher taxes. Open borders, the Green New Deal. It's really concerning."