Biden says he’s ready to debate rival in fall
After president makes offer on Howard Stern’s radio show, Trump suggests sometime next week.
NEW YORK — President Biden said Friday that he is willing to debate his presumptive Republican opponent, Donald Trump, this fall — his most definitive comment yet on the issue.
The comment came during an interview with the Sirius XM radio host Howard Stern, who asked Biden whether he would participate in debates against Trump.
“I am, somewhere. I don’t know when,” Biden said. “But I’m happy to debate him.”
So far, Biden’s reelection campaign had declined to commit to participating in the debates, a hallmark of every general election presidential campaign since 1976.
The president himself had also been vague, saying in March that whether he debated Trump “depends on his behavior.” The two men debated twice during the 2020 general election — a campaign year constrained significantly by COVID-19 restrictions — and Biden was notably irritated by Trump’s antics in the chaotic first debate that year.
“Will you shut up?” Biden told Trump at one point during the first debate.
Trump campaign officials have said for some time that the former president is prepared to debate Biden, and Chris LaCivita, a Trump campaign senior advisor, quickly responded to Biden’s remarks on the social media site X: “OK let’s set it up!”
The Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced the dates of the general election debates between presidential candidates.
Later Friday, Trump reacted to Biden’s new public willingness to debate by saying “everyone knows he doesn’t really mean it” but suggested evenings next Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, when Trump will be campaigning in Michigan. The former president is suggesting evenings because he is otherwise attending proceedings for his hush money criminal trial in New York.
Trump did not participate in any of the Republican primary debates this cycle.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has scheduled debates between presidential candidates for: Sept. 16 in San Marcos, Texas; Oct. 1 in Petersburg, Va.; and Oct. 9 in Salt Lake City. The lone vice presidential debate is slated for Sept. 25 in Easton, Pa.