Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she doesn't think Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden should debate President Trump again after the chaotic showdown between the two candidates earlier this week.
Asked during an interview with Bloomberg TV's David Westin if she believed Biden should participate in the remaining two scheduled debates, Pelosi replied: "I think one and done."
Pelosi previously said in August that she didn't think Biden should "legitimize" a debate stage with Trump. She maintained her position Thursday, after Trump declined to directly condemn white supremacists or commit to a peaceful transfer of power during the debate and continuously interrupted both Biden and moderator Chris Wallace.
"I myself did not think that Joe Biden should dignify debate with the president who has no commitment to fact, evidence, data, demeans the office he holds," Pelosi said Thursday.
"I never thought he shouldn't do it because I didn't think he would do well. I thought he shouldn't do it because I thought something like this could happen," she continued.
The Biden campaign said Wednesday that the former vice president still plans to participate in the remaining debates with Trump.
Pelosi said both during the Bloomberg TV interview and a press conference in the Capitol roughly an hour earlier that Trump's remarks during the debate are "what keeps me up at night." She noted that she hadn't "really slept five hours combined both nights" since Tuesday's debate.
"As Speaker, over time, people have said to me, ‘What keeps you up at night?’ The night of the debate you saw what keeps me up at night," Pelosi said as she opened her weekly news conference in the Capitol.
"To see a president of the United States, in a debate with a potential president of the United States, refuse to condemn white supremacists, refuse to commit to a peaceful transfer of government. To ignore the climate crisis as our country is burning and our coasts are hit by fierce storms. To be there to crush the Affordable Care Act instead of crushing the virus," Pelosi said.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced Wednesday that it would implement yet-to-be-specified changes to the remaining two debates, scheduled for Oct. 15 and 22, to impose more order on the proceedings.