BRIAN STELTER (HOST): So, you and I, we're not here to debate, but Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton are here to debate in, what, 57, 58 days? Let me ask you about the debates, because this weekend, Trump said the schedule for the debates is “unacceptable.” Let's put it on screen, he put up a tweet that said, “the first debate” -- actually, let's show the debate calendar first to it in perspective for people. The first debate here is September 26, then there's one October 4, then there's one October 9, the second presidential debate. Two of these debates do conflict with NFL games. Now this isn't a big surprise, since two NFL games also aired on the same nights as debates back in 2012, but here's what your boss said this morning on ABC’s This Week. 

[BEGIN VIDEO]

DONALD TRUMP: Well, I'll tell you what I don't like. It's against two NFL games. I got a letter from the NFL saying, “this is ridiculous why are the debates against,” because the NFL doesn't want to go against the debates. 

[END VIDEO]

STELTER: What's confusing about that statement, Jason, is that the NFL refuted it, saying, and I quote, “While we'd obviously wish the debate commission could find another night, we did not send a letter to Trump.” Can you help me understand why Trump said he did receive a letter from the NFL?

JASON MILLER: Yeah, let me take a step back here, Brian, for a moment. Our posture and our position on the debates is that we want as many people, as many voters to be participants in and to see the debates as possible, which is different from the Clinton campaign. So, you look at these first two debates, where the first debate is coming up head to head against Monday Night Football, it's a Falcons home game, Georgia an important state. The second debate is coming up for a Packers home game, that's on Sunday Night Football, which usually has about 20 million viewers, so big audiences. Wisconsin is a very important state. We want as many people to be participants and be involved in the presidential debate process as possible. Now, these initial dates that are put out there by the commission are planning dates, the campaigns haven't even started their negotiations yet, which will start this next week. Our posture, we want debates, we want as many people seeing them as possible. Going back to your initial point, Mr. Trump was notified by a source close to the league of these potential conflicts. The Clinton camp knows about these conflicts as well, but apparently that's not a big deal for them. But we want as many people to be involved in this process as possible, and that's our posture.

STELTER: Did Donald Trump lie when he said he received a letter from the NFL?

MILLER: He was notified by a source close to the league and, again, the issue here is we want people involved in --

STELTER: Why did he say he received a letter from the NFL?

MILLER: He was notified by a source close to the NFL. 

STELTER: I don't understand why he told George Stephanopoulos he received a letter, then. 

MILLER: I think that we're getting into semantics a little bit here, Brian. But, the point is that he was notified --

STELTER: It's not semantics if you send me a letter versus make a phone call. 

MILLER: Brian, he was notified by a source close to the NFL, and this is something the Clinton campaign was notified of as well. 

STELTER: Right. Well, the Clinton campaign, I think, probably knew when the debates were scheduled and knew when the football games were scheduled, because thecalendar for the debates came out in September of last year. The football calendar obviously was set later, but we all know games are on Sundays and Mondays. The commission has told me they have to spread these dates out, they have to do different days of the week, they have to avoid religious holidays, it's a lot of complicated reasons. Are you all saying you would like to see the debate days changed? 

MILLER: We would like the debates to not be head to head against major NFL games. We'd like to see some -- that's something we'll be discussing as we go into negotiations. 

STELTER: Will Trump skip the debates if they are continued to be scheduled on football nights?

MILLER: Brian, we want as many people to be watching to be a part of these debates as possible. That's our spirit of it. The Clinton camp would like these debates to be head to head with NFL games. So we're going to go in, we're going to start negotiations --

STELTER: What evidence do we have of that? What evidence do we have of that? Because on Friday night, Mr. Trump tweeted the following, he said that Clinton and the Dems are trying to “rig the debates.” But, we know that's not true, Jason. We know the Commission on Presidential Debates chose these dates, and they did not consult with the campaign. Why did Mr. Trump say that Clinton's trying to rig the debates?

MILLER: Brian, if you take a look back at Hillary Clinton's track record in the primary, numerous occasions, they had pushes to go and have debates at the same time as other big events that were going on, head to head against things that would be big conflicts and keep voters excluded. Our focus, we want as many people involved as possible. 

STELTER: Hey, listen, so do I. And I'm glad we have DVRs, and video on demand, and YouTube. I woke up every morning after the conventions and watched the speeches on YouTube. And that's how people can watch the debates now, too. Football isn’t  necessarily the kind of conflict that it was four or eight or twelve years ago, right?

MILLER: Brian, people are going to watch the debates live, they're going to watch football live.

Previously:

CNN's Brian Stelter Shuts Down The Trump Campaign's Attempt To Spin Attacks On Khizr Khan

Telemundo Exposes Trump's Lies About His Relationship With Putin

Hannity Helps Trump Lie To Claim He Didn't Attack Hillary Clinton's Faith

The Media Is Actually Calling Out The Trump Campaign's Lies About Melania Trump's Plagiarism