WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump agreed Wednesday to participate in the June 27 general election debate hosted by CNN.
It will begin at 9:00 p.m. and will be held at the news organization’s studios in Atlanta, according to a CNN press release.
“To ensure that the candidates can maximize their time in the debate, there will be no audience. Moderators and additional details for the debate will be announced at a later date,” CNN said.
The agreement came hours after Biden invited Trump to two televised studio debates ahead of the November election — a departure from the traditional system used.
Trump quickly responded, saying he disagreed with Biden’s call not to debate in front of the crowd, but that he accepted the proposed dates and that he, too, was eager to debate.
Later in the morning, Biden X said he accepted an invitation from CNN to participate in the June 27 debate.
“To you, Donald. As you say: anywhere, anytime, anywhere,” Biden said.
Shortly after, a Trump aide said they had agreed to this CNN debate in Atlanta and that there would be no crowd for the first debate.
CNN’s debate criteria leave open the possibility that other candidates will join the stage, but that would be unlikely.
Independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. already achieved CNN’s 15% national vote threshold in two Only two more requests are required to fulfill the voting criteria. But the network also announced that in order to participate, “a candidate’s name must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots before June 20 to reach the threshold of 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.”
Many state deadlines for obtaining an independent ballot are later than this date. In Ohio, for example, Kennedy’s campaign announced it had collected the necessary signatures to appear on the ballot. But the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported last week said the campaign would wait to turn in signatures for certification until closer to Ohio’s Aug. 7 deadline.
X In a post Wednesday morning, Kennedy wrote this Biden and Trump are “trying to shut me out of the debate because they’re afraid I’m going to win.”
In the morning, Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chairwoman, wrote in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), the organization that has coordinated presidential debates for decades, that Biden will not participate in any of the debates and instead will only do those hosted by live news outlets.
O’Malley Dillon wrote: “We believe the first debate should be in late June, likely after Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York is over and after President Biden returns from meeting world leaders at the G7 summit.”
It should be done by any broadcaster that hosted the 2016 GOP primary debate with Trump and the 2020 Democratic primary debate with Biden, he added.
“The second presidential debate should be held in early September, at the start of the fall campaign season, early enough to affect early voting but not late enough to require candidates to leave the campaign trail during the critical period of late September and October. “, the letter says.
Responding to Truth Social on Wednesday morning, Trump said he agreed with the proposed times: “I am ready and willing to debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September. I would recommend more than two debates for the sake of excitement. , a very large venue, although , Biden is supposedly afraid of the crowd — it’s just him telling me when I’m going to be.”
“Let’s get ready for the Rumble!!!” Trump added.
O’Malley Dillion listed suggested rules for the debates: strict time limits for responses, alternate turns to speak so that “the time is divided equally and there is no spectacle of intermission but an exchange of ideas.” He added that the candidate’s microphone should be active only when it is his turn to speak.
The letter also suggested that the vice presidential debates be held after the Republican National Convention in late July.
He explained that Biden’s campaign opposed the CPD debates because they were “scheduled to begin.” after The American people have a chance to vote early, and it’s not over until tens of millions of Americans have already voted.” He explained that the commission’s debates have become “big shows with big audiences” and that’s just what they need. In a television studio with O’Malley Dillion, both candidates He said the CPD did not enforce its rules in 2020.
Along with the letter, Biden released a short video on X urging Trump to debate him. He joked that he heard Trump was free on Wednesdays, referring to Trump’s New York criminal trial, which was not in session that day.
“Donald Trump lost two debates with me in 2020. “He hasn’t debated since. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, my friend. I’ll even do it twice. So let’s pick dates, Donald. I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.
In turn, Trump shown in Februaryruary he said he wanted to debate Biden “immediately,” saying: “I’d like to debate him now because we have to. We have to debate for the good of the country.”
In an April letter, Trump’s co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita said in his letter that debates should be held as soon as possible. “Although the Presidential Debates Commission has already announced three presidential debates and a vice-presidential debate to be held at the end of this year, we are in favor of starting these debates earlier.”
The letter made it clear that Trump’s campaign also favors moving the debate forward because it would give voters a chance to see the candidates before casting their ballots. They also said they would support adding more debates in addition to the three CPD had previously planned.