Donald Trump admits he interrupted Joe Biden too many times during the first presidential debate of 2020, according to Maggie Haberman.
“He’s told people several times that he knows he was too disruptive in the first debate with Biden in 2020, and having rewatched that debate recently, it’s really striking,” the New York Times senior political correspondent told CNN on Wednesday.
“I mean, we all talked about it at the time, but Biden could barely get a word in edgewise, and he was smiling the whole time this was happening.”
Trump interrupted Biden more than 100 times in the September 2020 debate, which was called a “chaotic mess,” “the political equivalent of a food fight,” and the “worst presidential debate in living memory” by journalists and political analysts at the time.
Moderator Chris Wallace, then a Fox News host, repeatedly tried to regain control but was unsuccessful.
The first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign is scheduled for June 27. Trump and Biden agreed to a set of rules, including muting their microphones when it is not their turn to speak.
According to Haberman, Trump has been preparing for the debate by receiving briefings from a number of people, including several Republican senators, who focused on issues that could come up, such as abortion, health care, energy, COVID-19 and the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Trump doesn’t like preparation,” she said. “I mean, he thinks of it as school. So the fact that they forced him to do it this way is pretty telling and also speaks to the fact that I think he knows he has to get this right.”
Next week’s debate will begin at 9 p.m. ET and will be moderated by CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
