Former President Donald Trump admitted he interrupted Joe Biden too many times at their first debate in September 2020, but defended the tactic because "calling him out two minutes later is very tough."
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Trump said: "it's like a fight. It depends on what the situation is."
"I was very aggressive in the first one," Trump said of the September 2020 face-off . "The second one, I was different, and I got great marks on the second one. It was a little unfair because, in the second one, a lot of votes had already been cast. So I'm probably going to look at the scene, at the time."
Trump and Biden will square off for their first debate hosted by CNN on June 27; his second is with ABC News on Sept. 10.
Trump said he's more than ready, though he complained there'll be no audience in the CNN TV studio.
"You have no audience to read. To me, the audience is easier because it's telling you what is going on, indirectly, with applause or not applause," he told the outlet. "This room is a sterile, dead room, which is I guess what they want."
Trump told the Washington Examiner the quick deal on the 2024 debates showed failed gamesmanship by the Biden campaign.
"What they did, I'm pretty sure, is that they approached me with a debate that I couldn't take," Trump explained. "No audience, sitting down, originally sitting down, a dead debate, turn off the mikes when you're not speaking so I can't interrupt him."
"I couldn't have said no," Trump said.
"I don't fear debates" he insisted. "I did the right thing with the Republicans because I was leading by 75 points.
"I mean, how do you go and debate guys when you're leading by 75 points? I was fully prepared, but the polls came out, and I was leading everybody. How do you have [former GOP Arkansas Gov.] Asa Hutchinson, at zero, screaming at you and you're up by 75 points? Why would you subject yourself to that?"