President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off in two debates, which were not set up by the debate commission.
The first debate will be on June 27th on CNN, and the second will be on September 10th on ABC. No other debates have been scheduled at this time.
Biden posted a video on X earlier today saying he defeated Trump in two debates before. He said Trump hasn’t shown up for a debate since then, and at the end of the video, he says,
“I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.”
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The line about Wednesdays appears to be a quip about Trump not being in court on Wednesdays for his trial in New York. Shortly after the video was posted, the Biden campaign launched a t-shirt about the Wednesday quip.
Biden later posted on X that he was willing to debate Trump anywhere, at any time, and that he had accepted the CNN debate. His post said,
“I’ve received and accepted an invitation from @CNN for a debate on June 27th. Over to you, Donald. As you said: anywhere, any time, any place.”
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Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account that he had also accepted both debates and called Biden the worst president in U.S. history. He said,
“It is my great honor to accept the CNN Debate against Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST PRESIDENT in the History of the United States and a true Threat to Democracy, on June 27th. Likewise, I accept the ABC News Debate against Crooked Joe on September 10th. Thank you, DJT!”
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In addition to the two debates both candidates agreed to, Trump said he also accepted a debate on Fox News scheduled for October 2nd.
However, the Biden campaign rejected the debate because they said Trump had skipped previous debates and didn’t want to play any more debate games. Biden’s campaign said they would see him in Atlanta on June 27th “if he shows up.”
According to Fox News, the Biden campaign also had additional requirements for the two debates.
First, the debate would not have an audience. Instead, the candidates would be in a television studio with just the moderator. The Biden campaign said that they viewed the audience factor as a distraction and wanted debates to be similar to those held in the 1960’s.
Second, the Biden campaign said no third-party candidates were allowed. This would exclude Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent and polling between 3% and 11%, with many polls closer to the 10% mark.
CNN requires candidates to hit 15% with their accepted polls, which RFK Jr. has done. CNN also requires that candidates have a certain level of ballot access to be on the debate stage.
RFK Jr. responded to the debate exclusion by claiming that Trump and Biden’s campaigns were working together to keep him off the stage:
“Presidents Trump and Biden are colluding to lock America into a head-to-head match-up that 70% say they do not want.
They are trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win. Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy.
Forty-three percent of Americans identify as independents. If Americans are ever going to escape the hammerlock of the two-party system, now is the time to do it. These are the two most unpopular candidates in living memory.
By excluding me from the stage, Presidents Biden and Trump seek to avoid discussion of their eight years of mutual failure including deficits, wars, lockdowns, chronic disease, and inflation.”
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RFK Jr. posted another message on X saying he would qualify for the debate by the June 20th deadline. However, with the Biden campaign saying they do not want third-party candidates, it is unclear if RFK Jr. would be allowed to debate, even if he met the CNN requirements.
The Biden campaign also said that only networks that hosted a primary debate in 2016 that Trump participated in and a 2020 primary debate that Biden participated in could host the debates. This would exclude Fox News, and only CNN, ABC, CBS, and Telemundo would be allowed to host the debates.
Finally, the Biden campaign said each candidate would have their microphone muted once their time had expired.
The June debate will be the earliest presidential debate in history. By the time the debate happens, neither candidate will have officially accepted their party’s nomination for president.
