Pelosi: ‘I have every confidence’ in Biden against Trump in debates

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she has confidence in Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden holding his own against President Trump in debates this fall.

Her comments come hours after saying earlier in the day that she doesn’t think there should be any debate between the candidate and the incumbent ahead of the November election.

“I have every confidence in Joe Biden,” Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “The Beat with Ari Melber.” “Why I said he shouldn’t debate [Trump] has nothing to do with Joe Biden. Joe Biden will be great. He is great as a debater.”

Pelosi first said at a press conference in the Capitol on Thursday morning that she didn’t think Biden should “legitimize” a debate with Trump, who she said has not “comported himself in a way that anybody has any association with truth, evidence, data and facts.”

Biden confirmed during an appearance on MSNBC a short time later that he would participate in the debates against Trump.

“I’m gonna be a fact-checker on the floor while I’m debating him,” Biden told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “But look, I think everybody knows this man has a somewhat pathological tendency not to tell the truth.”

Pelosi suggested that each of the candidates should instead hold their own separate forums to discuss their policy proposals, but acknowledged that Biden is set on debating Trump.

“[Biden]’s ready to go and wants to get into that debate. My concern was the president has not shown any respect for the office he holds. And I don’t expect that he will have any respect for the debates for that office,” Pelosi said.

Trump and his campaign have sought to highlight Biden’s past verbal gaffes and called for more debates.

Trump this week also floated the idea of having the candidates take drug tests before the first debate Sept. 29, suggesting, without evidence, that Biden’s debate performance against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the Democratic primaries could have been a result of drugs.

“I don’t know how he could have been so incompetent in his debate performances and then all of a sudden be OK against Bernie,” Trump told the Washington Examiner. “My point is, if you go back and watch some of those numerous debates, he was so bad. He wasn’t even coherent. And against Bernie, he was. And we’re calling for a drug test.”

The Commission on Presidential Debates has scheduled three debates between Biden and Trump between Sept. 29 and Oct. 22. One debate between Vice President Pence and Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), is set for Oct. 7.