WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Friday that he is suddenly open to debating former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, ahead of the November election, after previously being reluctant.
In an interview with radio talk show host Howard Stern, Biden was asked if he would debate Trump, saying, “I’ll be there somewhere, I don’t know when, but I’d be happy to debate him.” he said.
The Biden campaign has not previously announced whether Biden will participate in the debate. President Trump has for weeks said he would debate Biden “anytime, anywhere” and ridiculed Biden for refusing to commit.
The commission has scheduled three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate in September and October. The first presidential debate is scheduled for September 16th at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.
Earlier this month, the Trump campaign called on the presidential debates to add debates and move the fall date forward as soon as possible, raising the possibility that more than 1 million Americans would have voted early by the time of the first debate. pointed out that it was high.
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“Now is the time to begin these discussions,” the campaign said in an April 11 letter to the bipartisan committee.
The Biden campaign has rejected Trump’s repeated requests for an early debate, saying the former president was playing political games. “If I were him, I’d want to debate, too. He doesn’t have anything else to do,” Biden told reporters in February.
Trump refused to debate his Republican opponent in the Republican primary because there was no serious threat to his path to the Republican nomination.
In 2022, the Republican National Committee told the Commission on Presidential Debates that 2024 candidates will not be able to participate unless changes are made regarding moderator selection and debate scheduling before early voting begins in any state. I was informed that I would not. Trump had claimed without evidence that the committee was biased against him during his 2020 campaign with Biden.
In a joint statement on April 14, 12 news organizations, including USA TODAY, called on potential party candidates Biden and Trump to publicly commit to participating in a general debate before the election. Ta.
Contributor: David Jackson
Contact Joey Garrison at X (formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison).
