Biden campaign advisor says he would not shake Trump's hand in presidential debate
Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond said that he would not shake former President Trump's hand on stage in a conversation about decorum between the two presidential candidates in the CNN Presidential Debate scheduled for Thursday night.
"I don‘t think I would [shake Trump's hand], but President Biden consistently rises above pettiness, unlike Donald Trump," Richmond said on CNN Thursday morning. "So I would leave that up to him, but with what I‘ve been through with the former president, I certainly would not."
Trump and Biden met for two presidential debates during the 2020 election cycle, with the third being canceled. On Thursday night, they will face off on the same stage in a debate hosted by CNN and simulcast on Fox News.
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"Should President Biden shake Donald Trump's hand?" CNN's Kasie Hunt asked Richmond. "Does he deserve that?"
"That's up to President Biden. I'm sure there's no love lost there," he said. "I wouldn't shake his hand."
"I was in the Capitol when [Trump] sent insurrectionists, the Proud Boys and others to the Capitol, chanting ‘Hang Mike Pence’, looking for Leader Pelosi, I was there that day," Richmond said. "Because of that, I don't think I would."
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Richmond also told Hunt that he was unsure of whether Biden will call Trump a "convicted felon" on the debate stage after the former president was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a historic decision in May.
"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it‘s a duck," Richmond said. "He‘s a convicted felon, and that‘s just who he is. And by the way, he‘s a twice-impeached convicted felon."
"It wasn‘t Joe Biden that did that, it was 12 American patriots who served as jurors that found him guilty unanimously on 34 counts and so I‘m not sure if the president will or not, but I certainly will," he said. "He’s a convicted felon."
The Biden and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Howard Kurtz and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.