On Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden, in a video that featured six edits in 14 seconds, challenged Donald Trump to a debate.
Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate.
Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again.
Well, make my day, pal. pic.twitter.com/AkPmvs2q4u
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 15, 2024
Donald Trump could be walking into a trap. The former president has agreed to debate Joe Biden on June 27. The tussle is not going to be on friendly territory.
The Daily Caller writes that Biden will be debating only on CNN.
“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal, I’ll even do it twice,” Biden said in a Wednesday debate message.
“So let’s pick dates Donald, I hear you’re free Wednesdays,” the president continued, alluding to Trump’s court appearances.
Later Wednesday morning, Biden said that he “received and accepted” a debate invitation from CNN scheduled for June 27, before telling Trump, “anywhere, any time, any place.” Trump accepted the invitation as well, setting the stage for the first debate in the general election.
As a part of their debate dates proposal Biden also only wants networks that hosted the 2016 Republican primary debates and the 2020 Democratic primary debates in 2020, the NYT reported. Those networks include CNN, ABC News, Telemundo and CBS News.
Trump, writes The Associated Press, has been “pushing for more debates and earlier debates, arguing voters should be able to see the two men face off well before early voting begins in September. He has repeatedly said he will debate Biden “anytime, anywhere, any place,” even proposing the two men face off outside the Manhattan courthouse where he is currently on criminal trial in a hush money case. He also has been taunting Biden with an empty lectern at some of his rallies.
Biden’s campaign has long held a grudge against the nonpartisan commission for failing to evenly apply its rules during the 2020 Biden-Trump matchups — most notably when it didn’t enforce its COVID-19 testing rules on Trump and his entourage — and Biden’s team has held talks with television networks and some Republicans about ways to circumvent the commission’s grip on presidential debates.
Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon on Wednesday sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates to say that Biden’s campaign objected to the fall dates selected by the commission, which come after some Americans begin to vote, repeating a complaint also voiced by the Trump campaign. She also voiced frustrations over the rule violations and the commission’s insistence on holding the debates before a live audience.”
In a letter slamming the commission, the Biden campaign wrote, “The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home — not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors. As was the case with the original televised debates in 1960, a television studio with just the candidates and moderators is a better, more cost-efficient way to proceed: focused solely on the interests of voters.”
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