Former President Trump accepted President Biden’s offer to debate him on television in June and September.
After Trump said he was in, Biden said in a post on X that he ‘received and accepted an invitation’ from CNN for a debate on June 27.
‘Over to you, Donald. As you said: anywhere, any time, any place,’ Biden wrote.
When asked for comment, Trump told Fox News Digital that he will accept and ‘will be there.’ The Republican added that he is ‘looking forward to being in beautiful Atlanta.’
The proposal was initially outlined by the Biden-Harris campaign in a letter to the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates on Wednesday morning. It abandoned the decades-old tradition of three fall meetings organized by the debate commission. Trump afterward told Fox News Digital that he’d accept the timeline proposed by the incumbent Democrat.
‘Crooked Joe Biden is the worst debater I have ever faced – he can’t put two sentences together,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘Crooked is also the worst president in the history of the United States, by far.’
Trump told Fox News Digital that ‘it is time for a debate to take place – even if it has to be held through the offices of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which are totally controlled by Democrats and who, as people remember, got caught cheating with me with debate sound levels.’
‘I’m ready to go,’ Trump said. ‘The dates that they proposed are fine. Anywhere. Anytime. Any place. Let’s see if Joe can make it to the stand-up podium.’
‘The proposed June and early September dates are fully acceptable to me,’ Trump told Fox News Digital. ‘I will provide my own transportation.’
In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the Biden-Harris campaign proposed that the first debate be in late June, after Trump’s New York criminal trial is likely to be over and after Biden returns from meeting with world leaders at the G-7 Summit. A second presidential debate would occur in September prior to the beginning of early voting. The campaign proposed a vice presidential debate to occur in late July after the Republicans nominate their vice presidential candidate.
The Biden-Harris campaign asked that the debates occur inside a TV studio, with microphones that automatically cut off when a speaker’s time limit elapses. The letter also asked that the debates involve just the two candidates and the moderator — without ‘an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors’ that Trump feeds on.
They also want the debates without the participation of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. or other independent or third-party candidates.
‘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,’ Biden said in a video message shared earlier Wednesday morning. ‘I’ll even do it twice. So let’s pick the dates, Donald. I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.’
Echoing his sentiments expressed to Fox News Digital, Trump also took to Truth Social in a post Wednesday.
‘It’s time for a debate so that he can explain to the American People his highly destructive Open Border Policy, new and ridiculous EV Mandates, the allowance of Crushing Inflation, High Taxes, and his really WEAK Foreign Policy, which is allowing the World to ‘Catch on Fire.’ I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September,’ Trump posted. ‘I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!’’
Trump on Saturday appeared before a crowd of tens of thousands on the Jersey Shore in the deep-blue state. The campaign event was held in between Trump’s appearances in Manhattan Criminal Court.