Donald Trump brings Hunter Biden’s ex-business partner to tonight’s debate

President Donald Trump plans to bring Hunter Biden’s ex-business partner to Thursday night’s presidential debate as a way to confront Democrat Joe Biden on his son’s foreign business dealings. 

The Atlantic reported that Trump’s aides have been telling people that the president’s special guest is Tony Bobulinski, who told The New York Post he had heard the father and son talking business, something the former vice president has denied. 

Trump pulled a similar stunt in 2016 when he paraded three women who accused President Bill Clinton of varying degrees of sexual harassment and assault – Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick – around before and after the debate and had them sit in the audience to face his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. 

Trump had also invited Kathy Shelton. Hillary Clinton had been her accused rapist’s defense lawyer. 

Both Trump and Biden took coronavirus tests Thursday before meeting onstage between plexiglass barriers.  

Trump left the White House with first lady Melania Trump shortly after midday for the flight to Nashville, TN, for the debate. It was the first time she has been seen since being diagnosed with coroanvirus after the first debate. 

On Air Force One he tested negative for the coronavirus, according to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. ‘We tested him on the way here and he tested negative,’ Meadows told reporters. 

Earlier, the Biden campaign said he, too, tested negative for COVID-19.  

Off to Nashville: Donald Trump left for the second debate with First Lady Melania, her first public outing since being diagnosed with COVID

Final showdown: Donald and Melania Trump board Air Force One for Nashville on their way to the second debate with Joe Biden

Final showdown: Donald and Melania Trump board Air Force One for Nashville on their way to the second debate with Joe Biden

Off to debate: Joe Biden flew from New Castle in Delaware to the debate just after Donald Trump, with a thumbs up as he boarded his chartered jet

Off to debate: Joe Biden flew from New Castle in Delaware to the debate just after Donald Trump, with a thumbs up as he boarded his chartered jet

Jill Biden (left) and Joe Biden (right) arrive in Nashville, Tennessee before Thursday night's presidential debate

Jill Biden (left) and Joe Biden (right) arrive in Nashville, Tennessee before Thursday night’s presidential debate

President Donald Trump has invited Hunter Biden's former business partner Tony Bobulinski (pictured) to be his debate guest

President Donald Trump has invited Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski (pictured) to be his debate guest 

It is the final debate of the election – the previous one got scratched after Trump refused to take part in a ‘virtual’ format after getting the coronavirus – and represents an opportunity with dwindling time for the president to try to reset the race.

Trump hoped he could throw his rival off balance and demonstrate that his mind is ‘shot’ by repeatedly attacking and interrupting him during the first debate in Cleveland. But Biden ended up getting a slight bump in national polls taken afterward.

Now, the president has telegraphed he will accuse his rival of ‘corruption’ just like he has at his campaign rallies leading up to Thursday – and will not hold back from torching Hunter Biden after the release of emails that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani put out and said came from Hunter’s laptop. 

Trump complained when town hall interviewer George Stephanopoulos didn’t bring up Hunter during his TV talk with Biden last week. 

New changes imposed by the bipartisan debate commission will silence the opposite candidate’s microphone during opening statements, after widespread denunciations of the first encounter. But they will each be free to interject later in the debate.

The president’s combative stance was on display with an interview he taped with CBS’ ’60 Minutes,’ where he complained to interviewer Lesley Stahl after she asked if he was ready for ‘tough questions.’

‘But you’re OK with some tough questions?’ she asked him.

‘No I’m not,’ he replied. 

Trump has used prior debates for theater, following 2016 rival around the stage in 2016. Clinton said he ‘literally stalked me.’ Trump’s team also brought former Bill Clinton rape and sexual assault accusers to the debate in a play to get inside his opponents’ head. 

President Donald Trump invited three women who had accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual misdeeds to the second presidential debate in 2016 to get under Hillary Clinton's skin. (From left) Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick were paraded around by Trump before and after the debate and sat in the audience

President Donald Trump invited three women who had accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual misdeeds to the second presidential debate in 2016 to get under Hillary Clinton’s skin. (From left) Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey and Juanita Broaddrick were paraded around by Trump before and after the debate and sat in the audience 

This time, Trump says he’ll bring up Hunter Biden, after days of disclosures from Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Biden sent a signal of his own – blowing up at a reporter who asked him about the subject several days ago. 

 

On Wednesday, he teed off when a local Wisconsin reporter asked him about it in a TV interview. ‘This is the same garbage Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s henchman, it’s a last-ditch effort in this desperate campaign to smear me and my family,’ Biden said.

Trump can also use the Hunter saga to point to China – a country he repeatedly accuses of bringing the ‘plague’ into the U.S. He named China as the nation’s top adversary on ’60 minutes.’

Most political observers agree the pressure is on Trump to get something out of the debate. Biden’s leads have been durable, and millions of his supporters have already voted. He also has an advertising advantage on air, with more money in the bank, after the Trump campaign blew through the more than $1 billion it raised since 2017.

Goodbye: Trump waves to White House staff as he prepares to take off on Marine One for Joint Base Andrews to transfer to Air Force One

Goodbye: Trump waves to White House staff as he prepares to take off on Marine One for Joint Base Andrews to transfer to Air Force One

On my way: Trump walked hand in hand with Melania on his way from Marine One to Air Force One

On my way: Trump walked hand in hand with Melania on his way from Marine One to Air Force One

Good luck: White House staff were lined up on the South Lawn to cheer off the president and first lady on their way to Nashville. The usual practice of inviting outside guests has been canceled for the pandemic

Good luck: White House staff were lined up on the South Lawn to cheer off the president and first lady on their way to Nashville. The usual practice of inviting outside guests has been canceled for the pandemic

One person is masked: An Air Force officer escorting Donald Trump on board Air Force One was covered up - unlike the president and the first lady

One person is masked: An Air Force officer escorting Donald Trump on board Air Force One was covered up – unlike the president and the first lady

Jill Biden arrives in Nashville, Tennessee wearing a 'VOTE' facemask, similar to one sported by President Barack Obama in Philadelphia on Wednesday

Jill Biden arrives in Nashville, Tennessee wearing a ‘VOTE’ facemask, similar to one sported by President Barack Obama in Philadelphia on Wednesday 

On my way: The former vice president headed to the debate with an advantage in the polls

On my way: The former vice president headed to the debate with an advantage in the polls

BE PREPARED: Trump has already torn into moderator Kristen Welker

BE PREPARED: Trump has already torn into moderator Kristen Welker

Trump was holding a fundraiser in Nashville just five hours before the debate is set to start.

Biden’s national lead is up to 8 percentage points in the Real Clear Politics Average. Analyst Charlie Cook suggests observers look to Senate races for the real ‘drama.’ A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday had the two men tied in Texas, 47-47. 

Trump has softened up the ground by going after moderator Kristen Welker. But he is still likely to face follow up questions from the first debate and town hall about the coronavirus (with more than 1,200 U.S. deaths reported Wednesday alone), and his tax returns, which got leaked to the New York Times.

A Times follow-on report this week revealed Trump’s company had an undisclosed bank account in China.

Biden has struggled when pressed on whether he supports court packing, but may have found his answer in his 60 Minutes interview, saying he would appoint a bipartisan commission to study court reforms.  

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