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Don Jr claims debate is 'rigged' against Trump as moderator Steve Scully's past ties with Biden spark criticism

Trump Jr's tweet came after critics questioned Scully and called his objectivity into question after it was revealed that he had worked as an intern for Biden

President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., on Friday, October 9, claimed that the next presidential debate is "rigged" against his father, POTUS Donald Trump. Trump Jr made the claim in a tweet ahead of the debate, which was scheduled to be held virtually on October 15 and moderated by C-Span political editor, Steve Scully. The second presidential debate has reportedly been canceled. 

Trump Jr's tweet came after critics questioned Scully and called his objectivity into question after it was revealed that he had worked as an intern for Trump's political rival and former Vice President Joe Biden in 1978. A biography, published by George Washington University, stated that Scully worked for Biden, the Delaware senator at the time, for a month. 

The president's son, on Friday, tweeted: "Yeah guys the debate commission isn’t rigged against Trump." He also shared an article from Fox News, detailing Scully's tweets to former Trump staffer Anthony Scaramucci, asking if he should "respond to Trump." The tweets have now been deleted considering Scully is now a staunch Trump critic.

Considering his links to Biden and Trump, some critics raised red flags over whether Scully would remain objective, while others called for a different moderator for the debate. Referring to Scully's tweet to Scaramucci, Trump Jr wrote: "Are you kidding me. Steve Scully the former Biden intern and moderator of the next debate thinks he’s DMing... but he’s doing it out loud. Yea, totally not a setup. Journalism is dead."

Trump, after it was revealed that the second debate would be virtual, had declared that he would not participate in it. The president, while talking to Fox News last week, had said: "I'm not going to waste my time doing a virtual debate." The decision of a virtual debate was made days after Trump was tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The Trump campaign suggested that if the president was still contagious, they would instead hold a virtual rally. 

The campaign has reportedly attempted to shift the date of the second debate to October 22 instead, and are seeking to push back the third debate by another week to October 29. The proposal, however, has been rejected by Biden's campaign, which is set to hold a virtual rally in light of the cancelation of the second debate. 

The second presidential debate was formally canceled late on Friday after Trump refused to participate in a virtual event. After Trump pulled out of the debate, Biden scheduled his town-hall-style event on ABC for the same night, reports state. A commission member who helped to create modern televised debates in 1960, Newton N. Minow, said: "In seven decades of televised presidential debates, this is the first debate to be canceled. The loser is the American voter." Trump, meanwhile, will resume his signature rally beginning on Monday, October 12, in Florida.

The final debate of the 2020 presidential election cycle continues to remain scheduled on October 22 at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, with Kristen Welker of NBC as the moderator.