Commission on Presidential Debates co-founder Frank Fahrenkopf has lashed out at one of President Biden’s top White House aides after the Democrat’s campaign ditched the longstanding forum organizers and independently negotiated one-on-one showdowns against former President Donald Trump.
“I know where all this is coming [from] — this is Anita Dunn,” Fahrenkopf, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, told Politico’s “Playbook Deep Dive” podcast in an interview published Friday.
“This is her plan. I know. She’s fought — she was against the commission for years and years and years,” he added, referencing Dunn’s work on a 2015 report from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center that suggested “democratizing” the presidential debates.
“Anita hates us and always has,” insisted Fahrenkopf.
Dunn, 66, has been Biden’s senior communications adviser since May 2022 and is married to the president’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer.
The Post reported last month that Dunn was the main mover in a failed bid to oust White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Fahrenkopf, 84, also claimed there was “no question” that former Biden White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who also worked on the Annenberg report, was involved in cutting out the CPD, which has organized every presidential and vice presidential debate since 1988.
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post.
Biden and Trump have tentatively agreed to two debates, to be held largely on terms set by the incumbent. The first debate will be held June 27 and hosted by CNN in Atlanta, while the second will be held Sept. 10 and hosted by ABC News.
Among the stipulations set out by the Biden campaign are no audience, no third-party candidates, and for each candidate to be equipped with microphones that automatically cut off when their time to speak runs out.
Trump was quick to accept Biden’s terms, which Fahrenkopf suggested “could end up being one of the great blunders of the entire election cycle.”
“Someone called me this morning and said it was political malpractice,” he added.
Trump’s adviser Chris LaCivita fired back in a statement to Politico: “Frank’s political analysis is as relevant as the Commission on Presidential Debates is … which is … oh wait … done.”
“The bottom line is,” LaCivita added, “we have debates that are a far cry more than an outdated Washington committee filled with a bunch of washed up swamp rats could deliver.
“Frank’s a cassette tape living in a digital world and some of the biggest political blunders on the Republican side have been in participating in his ‘commission’s’ debates.”
On Wednesday, Trump’s team fired off a letter to the Biden campaign requesting four debates, not two. The 45th president later suggested an Oct. 2 debate hosted by Fox News.
The Biden campaign shot down both requests.
Fahrenkopf also told Politico he could see independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suing CNN if the network keeps him out of the debate despite reaching the required 15% polling benchmark and getting on ballots in enough states to reach 270 electoral votes.
“Yeah, what do you got to lose?” he said of the possibility. “Give it a shot.”
