President Donald Trump has discussed possibly skipping the 2020 presidential campaign debates with his closest aides, reported The New York Times.

According to the Times‘ report, the president believes that the Commission on Presidential Debates – the body which organises the live televised showdowns between the two top presidential contenders – can’t be trusted to choose an unbiased moderator.

During the 2016 presidential campaign Trump complained that moderators in his debates with Hillary Clinton were biased, and boycotted a Fox News debate, accusing the network of being hostile towards him.

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President Donald Trump is discussing with advisers skipping the 2020 election presidential debates, two sources familiar with the conversations told The New York Times.

The president is reportedly convinced that the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit organisation that organises debates, cannot be trusted to choose the right person to fairly moderate them.

Trump’s campaign reportedly refused to comment on the claims when the Times asked top campaign officials about the proposed boycott at an event in Arlington, Virginia.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on the report.

The president’s complaints about the debates are familiar from the 2016 presidential campaign, when he complained about the moderators in his debates with Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.

In the three debates Trump got mixed results, with most polls showing they had given Clinton a clear boost immediately afterwards.

Lester Holt of NBC moderated the first debate Trump appeared in, while the second was moderated by ABC’s Martha Raddatz and CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Fox’s Chris Wallace hosted the third and final debate.

Foto: NBC Moderator Lester Holt during the first presidential debate in 2016.sourceREUTERS/Joe Raedle/Pool

He had gone a step further and boycotted a debate hosted by Fox News during the presidential primaries in January 2016, claiming that the network was biased against him.

He had faced tough questions from host Megyn Kelly in a Fox debate early in the primaries, who confronted him about his attitudes towards women.