Trump’s team wants Biden’s ears inspected for ‘listening device’ ahead of first debate

The Trump campaign has pushed for Joe Biden’s ears to be inspected for electronic devices or transmitters ahead of the first presidential debate, according to a new report.

Currently the two campaigns are negotiating the details of the debates, mere hours before the candidates will face off against each other for the first time.

Fox News reported that Donald Trump and his team have asked for the ears to be inspected by a third party for each candidate, as they accuse Mr Biden of potentially wearing a device that could feed him lines during the debate.

The Biden campaign has yet to agree to this demand, according to the report.

On the other side of the aisle, the Biden campaign has asked for two breaks, one every 30 minutes, during the debate. Mr Trump’s team has said in recent weeks that they would not agree to this demand.

Rhetoric surrounding the debates has heightened in recent weeks.

Besides Mr Trump accusing his democratic challenger of attempting to wear an electronic device, he’s also called for each of them to submit drug tests before and after every debate.

In a series of tweets shared on Sunday, the president made unfounded claims that Mr Biden uses performance-enhancing drugs to boost his performance.

“I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night. Naturally, I will agree to take one also,” Mr Trump wrote. “His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly. Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???”

Mr Biden initially said “no comment” when asked later on Sunday about the accusations made by the president, but then his campaign reconsidered their response.

“Vice President Biden intends to deliver his debate answers in words. If the president thinks his best case is made in urine he can have at it,” said Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager. “We’d expect nothing less from Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200K Americans when he didn't make a plan to stop Covid-19.”

Mr Trump has long used nicknames like “sleepy” and “weak” to belittle his challenger, but that could set the stage for Mr Biden to perform better than expected with the president setting the bar so low. So the president has now changed his rhetoric to instead accuse Mr Biden of using drugs and electronic devices in an effort to improve his debate performance.

The first debate will air later today from Cleveland, Ohio, with Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace as the moderator.

The debate will include six 15-minute segments "dedicated to topics announced in advance in order to encourage deep discussion of the leading issues facing the country," the Commission on Presidential Debates said in a statement.

These topics include the records of Mr Trump and Mr Biden in office, the Supreme Court, coronavirus pandemic, the economy, “race and violence in our cities”, and “the integrity of the election”.