(*27*)
WASHINGTON – CNN announced Wednesday morning that a debate between President Joe Biden and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will be held on June 27 at the network’s studios in Atlanta.
CNN said There would be no audience present at the debate and the moderators will be announced later.
Biden on Wednesday called for two debates to be held before early voting for the November election begins – and Trump responded that he would do so.
On X, formerly Twitter, Biden wrote that he had accepted an invitation from CNN to a debate on June 27.
“About you, Donald,” Biden wrote. “Like you said: anywhere, anytime, anywhere.”
Trump has also pledged to take part in the June debate, according to CNN.
Biden began the exchange about the debates on Wednesday when he wrote to the Commission on Presidential Debates saying he would not agree to a three-debate schedule explained earlier from the nonpartisan organization that has organized presidential debates since the 1980s. The first would have been September 16th.
“President Joe Biden believes that the interests of the American people are best served by presidential debates that provide timely and relevant information to inform voters before they make their decisions – and that allow for a head-to-head comparison of the two candidates with odds. “ “Winning the election,” Biden campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote in a letter to the commission.
Trump then accepted Biden’s proposed debates, one in June and another in September, on his social media page Truth Social. “I am ready and willing to debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September,” Trump wrote.
“Corrupt Joe Biden is the WORST debater I’ve ever met – He can’t put two sentences together!” he also wrote.
Trump added that he wanted to debate immigration policy, electric vehicles, inflation, taxes and foreign policy with Biden. He also called for more than two debates.
Breaking with precedent
By informing the Commission on Presidential Debates that the president would not participate in its debates, the Biden campaign broke precedent and instead demanded that news organizations moderate the debates.
The Biden campaign suggested that news organizations broadcasting should be any that hosted a Republican primary debate in 2016 in which Trump participated, and any news organization that hosted a Democratic primary debate that Biden participated in in 2020 .
That means that “neither campaign can claim that the sponsoring organization is patently unacceptable,” the letter says.
The campaign proposed holding the first debate in behind schedule June, “after the New York criminal trial of Donald Trump is likely to conclude and after President Biden returns from meeting world leaders at the G7 summit.”
The second debate should take place in early September, the campaign argued, so that it is “early enough to influence early voting, but not so late that candidates have to leave the campaign during the critical period in late September and October.”
The Biden campaign is also proposing to hold a vice presidential debate in behind schedule July after the GOP nominee and vice presidential nominee are selected at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
It is uncertain whether an independent candidate like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could also qualify for the debates.
CNN said in a press release that to qualify to participate in its debate, “a candidate’s name must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to meet the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency before the eligibility deadline.” win; agree to accept the rules and format of the debate; and received at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN reporting standards.”
The statement added that acceptable polls will include those sponsored by: CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, Marquette University Law School, Monmouth University, NBC News, the New York Times/Siena College, NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist College, Quinnipiac University, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.
“The voting window to determine eligibility for the debate began on March 13, 2024 and ends seven days prior to the date of the debate,” the statement said.
