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President Joe Biden and former President Trump quickly reached an agreement Wednesday on two presidential debates in a head-to-head face-off on national television ahead of the national political conventions this summer.
Trump and Biden have announced they will debate without an audience on June 27 in CNN’s studio in Atlanta, and again onstage on September 10 for a debate hosted by ABC News.
Biden’s campaign released a video from Biden on Wednesday in which he dared Trump to meet him for debates in June and September.
Shortly thereafter, the former president made it clear he was glad to accept Biden’s challenge.
Biden’s sophomoric challenge came just days after new polls conducted by The New York Times and Siena College showed the president trailing Trump in most of the battleground states.
Biden trails Trump in Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan among their egistered voters.
In his Wednesday challenge, Biden signaled his eagerness to take Trump on, which would also allow the Biden campaign to put more focus on Trump.
Nevertheless, the wild card will be Hunter Biden’s criminal trials for gun charges beginning June 3 in Delaware and for tax violations beginning June 20 in California. Biden’s lawyers have tried to get those cases thrown out on constitutional and political persecution arguments and failed. Also, this June, Dr. Anthony Fauci will be testifying on Capitol Hill on covid-19 origin and at the end of May, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, Executive Producer and Director, will be releasing the movie Protocal7, which will expose the Merck fraud over the mumps, measles and rubella vaccinations.
“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,” Biden boasted on X.
Trump boldly responded as if this were a boxing match with no one else eligible to be in the ring - on the state ballots, which is a fallacy. The Green Party and Libertarian party will be on the state ballots for the general election. They have earned those positions over the years, but according to Trump and Biden, they have both canceled their candidates with these negotiations and the networks went along with this.
“I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “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!!!’”
CNN shortly thereafter released a statement that their debate will be aired live on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Espanol and CNN.com It will be hosted by anchors Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, who has publicly rebuked Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. No CNN feed will be supplied to other networks keeping the debate sequestered to just CNN outlets.
ABC News said late Wednesday that its debate would use similar criteria and would be moderated by anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis. So far, they have agreed to supply a feed to other networks.
The Biden campaign earlier Wednesday had called for the first debate to take place in late June, after the president returns from the Group of Seven summit in Europe and after Trump’s hush money trial in New York concludes. That request could be viewed as a deflection from the Hunter Biden’s trials. His gun trial is expected to only last less than a week. His tax violations trial could take longer.
Biden’s campaign wanted a second debate in September ahead of the start of early voting in many states, which the ABC debate covers, as well as a vice presidential debate in late July.
The two campaigns seem hellbent on rejecting the Commission on Presidential Debates, which was created in 1988. The group has always scheduled three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate after the national parties’ conventions and closer to the final date when Secretary of States decide whose names will appear on the ballots.
“The American public deserves substantive debates from the leading candidates for president and vice president,” the Commission said.
“Our 2024 sites, all locations of higher learning, are prepared to host debates on dates chosen to accommodate early voters,” the group added. “We will continue to be ready to execute this plan.”
Officials with the Biden campaign and the Trump campaign had behind-the-scenes discussions in recent weeks about arranging debates and going around the commission.
The outcome of the terms of the first debate still remain up in the air. The CNN debate will be open to any presidential candidate who gets 15 percent in four separate approved national polls between March 15 and June 20; who gets on enough ballots to have a path to winning a majority of the votes in the electoral college; and who agrees to the debate rules.
Nevertheless, Biden’s advisers said that they had told CNN that President Biden would only participate in debates that were one-on-one with Trump and that they did not agree to another debate Trump suggested, on Fox News in October.
“President Biden made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates.”
A Trump campaign official said a CNN producer had given assurances in a call Wednesday morning that “RFK will not be on the stage,” after describing the criteria for the event.
“We’re thrilled Presidents Biden and Trump have finally agreed to a debate!” Kennedy campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy said in a statement. “We anticipate Mr. Kennedy fulfilling all participation criteria by June 20th and look forward to offering American voters the three-way debate they deserve.”
Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., Co-Chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said his organization was founded to avoid this type of confusion. The commission requires a higher standard than the one adopted by the networks.
“One of the reasons we were created is campaigns could never agree on the most important things,” Fahrenkopf said. “If they can do it, more power to them. We’d rather have them go with us.”
The Biden proposal, outlined in a video message and letter to the commission Wednesday morning, calling for direct negotiations between the Trump and Biden campaigns over the rules, moderators and network hosts for the one-on-one encounters.
Biden proposed that the moderator should be selected by the broadcast host from its “regular personnel,” with firm time limits for answers, equal speaking time, alternative turns to speak and microphones that are active only during each candidate’s turn.
“The real story here is that Joe Biden is so weak and infirm he will only commit to two debates when we should be doing much more,” Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita said in a statement.
The commission has already scheduled one vice-presidential and three presidential debates, starting Sept. 16 with a presidential candidate meeting in Texas that would have been simultaneously broadcast by major broadcast and cable news networks.
Televised debates starting in 1960 were held in the final months of the campaign after the candidates had been formally nominated to lead their respective parties. Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat John F. Kennedy were the first to appear in a televised presidential debate in 1960. The next presidential debate took place in 1976, followed by debates in 1980 and 1984 and then organized thereafter by the Commission, which sought to standardize the debates putting neutrality at the top of its priorities.
A candidate’s qualification standard of at least 15 percent in national polls and a ballot access requirement of at least 270 state ballots for the electoral college would allow third party candidates on the stage per the Commission's rules.
The commission single-handedly has picked the locations, moderators and formats over the last decades.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) announced in 2022 that the party would leave the commission’s debate system altogether, calling the body “biased.” The RNC and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have never had anything to do with the Commission's negotiations since its inception. The Committee only has dealt with the campaigns and traditionally never reached out to their point persons until after their respective national parties have officially nominated their candidates.
Two top Trump campaign advisers, LaCivita and Susie Wiles, announced last month that the timing of the commission’s first debate was “unacceptable.”
Fahrenkopf, the former chairman of the RNC from 1981-1989, said the commission’s debates could not be scheduled until after September 6, the last date when states determine which candidates appear on their November ballots, since ballot access is a condition of debate eligibility under the commission’s rules.
“It’s rigged so heavily in Joe Biden’s favor, but everything always is! You’ve got Hollywood against Donald Trump. You’ve got the music industry against Donald Trump. Mainstream media. Despite that and even the judicial system at this point, he is beating Joe Biden in every poll out there. It’s amazing to see. So, if Joe Biden shows up on June 27th and doesn’t come up with an excuse like he has to wash his hair or something, I have full confidence that Donald Trump will outperform him,” said Laura Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law.
The Libertarian candidate has not yet been officially nominated. They hold their convention at the end of May. Donald Trump and Robert F. Kenned are due to speak at that convention.
If Kennedy is endorsed, he will be on their ballot in 50 states. His only threshold then will be to pass the 15% poll hurdle. If Trump is endorsed, his name could appear twice on some state ballots.
Why did Biden’s people push for earlier debates? Perhaps, if his performance is not strong enough, there may be enough time to recover or perhaps, to replace him?
This story is developing…
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What did we do before 1988, when there was no CPD?
Apparently the CPD refuses to release data about how the commission raises funds.
That is enough for me to say GOOD RIDDANCE!