Donald Trump says he will 'absolutely' participate in three debates, but wants to see the conditions first. | Getty Trump wavers on debates: ‘I have to see the conditions’ The Clinton campaign says that he's engaging in 'shenanigans' and 'toying' with the media.

Donald Trump wants to debate Hillary Clinton “very badly,” but the Republican presidential nominee on Tuesday said he has “to see the conditions” before fully committing to it.

Trump’s wavering comes amid increasing concern that the often erratic political outsider could forgo his chances to spar with Clinton on the national stage, breaking a historic precedent. Clinton’s campaign issued a pre-emptive rebuke, accusing Trump of engaging in “shenanigans” and possibly “toying” with the media to create drama.


The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced in September 2015 the locations for the presidential and vice presidential debates: Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, on Sept. 26; Washington University in St. Louis on Oct. 9; the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on Oct. 19; and Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia, for the vice presidential debate on Oct. 4.

In a telephone interview with Time, Trump seemingly committed to participating in three debates but added a caveat.

“I will absolutely do three debates,” Trump said. “I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions.”

Before the interview was published, Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said in a statement that the debates aren’t open to negotiation.

“It is concerning that the Trump campaign is already engaged in shenanigans around these debates. It is not clear if he is trying to avoid debates, or merely toying with the press to create more drama,” he said. “Either way, our campaign is not interested in playing along with a debate about debates or bargaining around them. The only issue now is whether Donald Trump is going to show up to debate at the date, times, places and formats set by the commission last year through a bipartisan process. We will accept the commission’s invitation and expect Donald Trump to do the same.”

One open question surrounding the debates is whether a third-party candidate will participate. The commission has directed the debate hosts to plan for a third lectern, an acknowledgment that former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the nominee of the Libertarian Party, or Green Party candidate Jill Stein could cross the 15 percent threshold required to gain a spot on stage.

“With Gary Johnson polling in some places more than double digits ... some of our production people may have said, ‘Just in case, you need to plan out what that might look like,’” Commission on Presidential Debates co-chair and former Bill Clinton White House press secretary Mike McCurry told POLITICO. “We won’t know the number of invitations we extend until mid-September.”

It’s unclear whether an additional participant — who would deny Trump a one-on-one showdown with Clinton in front of a prime-time audience — would cause the real estate mogul to pull out of any of the debates, should he commit to participating in the first place.

The New York billionaire not only skipped a Fox News debate during the Republican primary but held a competing event to raise money for veterans. He also pulled out of a March debate in Salt Lake City that Fox News was scheduled to host, ultimately resulting in the event being canceled.

Trump has clashed with the debates commission already and accused Clinton of rigging the debate schedule in recent days. Late last month, Trump claimed the NFL sent him a letter complaining that it’s “ridiculous” that the debate schedule will interfere with two football games. An NFL spokesman said the league never wrote Trump a letter but conceded that “we obviously prefer the debates on a different night than scheduled games.”

In a statement of its own, the commission said it had spent more than a year-and-half to find the best days to hold debates. “It is impossible to avoid all sporting events, and there have been nights on which debates and games occurred in most election cycles,” the statement said. “A debate has never been rescheduled as a result.”

Just days earlier, Trump said Clinton and the Democratic Party were trying to rig the debate schedule, which he said was “Unacceptable!”

“As usual, Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games,” he wrote. “Same as last time w/ Bernie. Unacceptable!”

On Tuesday, Trump suggested he would try to cut a deal with the commission. Trump criticized a marathon CNN debate during the GOP primary that lasted more than three hours and took credit for the following debate, which was hosted by CNBC, being limited to two hours. PolitiFact, however, rated Trump’s assertion that he renegotiated a three-hour debate down to two hours “Mostly False.”

“I renegotiated the debates in the primaries, remember?” Trump told Time on Tuesday. “They were making a fortune on them, and they had us in for 3½ hours, and I said that’s ridiculous. I’m sure they’ll be open to any suggestions I have because I think they’ll be very fair suggestions. But I haven’t [seen the conditions] yet. They’re actually presented to me tonight.”

Trump famously clashed with Fox News anchor and debate moderator Megyn Kelly last year, and he emphasized to Time that he would have to wait and see who the general election debate moderators are because “certain moderators would be unacceptable.”

“I did very well in the debates on the primaries,” Trump said. “According to the polls, I won all of them. So I look forward to the debates. But, yeah, I want to have fair moderators … I will demand fair moderators.”