Donald Trump does not want CNN's Anderson Cooper as presidential debate moderator

Trump alleged that Cooper would be 'very biased' against him

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he will participate in presidential debates on CNN but not accept the channel's popular anchor Anderson Cooper as a moderator as he will be "very biased".

"I don't think Anderson Cooper should be a moderator, because Anderson Cooper works for CNN and over the last couple of days, I've seen how Anderson Cooper behaves," Trump said.

"He'll be very biased, very biased. I don't think he should be a moderator. I'll participate, but I don't think he should be a moderator. CNN is the Clinton News Network and Anderson Cooper, I don't think he can be fair," Trump told The Washington Post in an interview yesterday.

Responding to questions on the recent surge in his campaign, Trump, 70, said a possible turning point in the race came last week when Clinton said that "half" of his supporters belonged in a "basket of deplorable".

Clinton later on regretted her remarks.

"It's the single biggest mistake in this political cycle, a massive comment, bigger than 47 per cent," Trump said, in an apparent reference to the controversial remark of the 2012 Republican's presidential nominee.

Trump refuted the allegations that he had embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"That's a totally false narrative. I haven't embraced them. You know that," he said.

Asked if he has been more warm to Putin than many other Republicans, Trump said, "No. No. I simply said that Putin is a stronger leader than Obama."

Trump said he was preparing for the three presidential debates.

"Debate skills are either something you either have or don't have. You have to prep. You have to have knowledge," he said.

"But when people say you have to be nice or not nice, well, I won't really know until it begins. Because if she treats me with respect, I'll treat her with respect. If she doesn't, I'll reciprocate. If she's respectful of me, I'll be that way with her," he added.