President Trump says he plans to participate in this fall's presidential debates

The New York Times

Despite his qualms with the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, Trump told a group of reporters in a pre-State of the Union lunch today that he had decided to participate in the series of three debates this fall because he believed his debate performances helped him win support from voters in the 2016 campaign. That's according to The New York Times, which also reports that NBC News' Chuck Todd asked the president a question on behalf of Jake Tapper, who didn't attend because CNN was banned for the first time from the annual lunch. Trump responded by saying that journalists from "MSDNC" -- his nickname for MSNBC -- were also absent (even though Todd has a show on MSNBC).