The Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the second planned debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump had been officially cancelled on Friday, following a reluctance from Biden to debate and the revelation that debate moderator Steve Scully had been planning public statements with anti-Trump commentator Anthony Scaramucci.

The Commission had sought to replace the debate with a ‘virtual’ contest in light of President Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis and quick recovery. The President refused such a alternative, maintaining that an event with the seriousness of a presidential debate should be conducted in person.

The debate’s fate was also placed in jeopardy when planned moderator Steve Scully was caught attempting to collude with anti-Trump hack Anthony Scaramucci on Thursday. Scully accidentally sent what was supposed to be a DM to Scaramucci as a tweet, asking him how he should respond to the President’s accusations of bias on the part of the Commission for Presidential Debates. In dishonest fashion, Scully claimed that his Twitter account had actually been “hacked,” an excuse he’s used in previous years when making embarrassing tweets. The FBI has now began a purported investigation into the laughable “hack,” but there’s no way Scully could’ve claimed to fairly moderate a presidential debate after his Scaramucci DM leaked.

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Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtagh that President Trump is still willing to engage in a debate without the Commission’s interference and insistence upon a virtual contest.

– @TimMurtaugh "There’s nothing that says that President Trump and Joe Biden can’t debate together without the overlords at the commission having a say in the matter. We would be glad to debate one-on-one without the commission’s interference.”

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— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) October 9, 2020

President Trump previously expressed a willingness to appear in a debate-style event with podcaster Joe Rogan, breaking free of the establishment media format for debates. Biden has refused to consider the proposal.

As of Friday afternoon, the scheduled third presidential debate planned in Miami, Florida is still on, but it seems somewhat likely that that contest could be cancelled as well in light of the flop of the second debate.