WASHINGTON – CNN announced Wednesday morning that it will host a debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on June 27 at its Atlanta studio.
According to CNN, there will be no audience for the debate and the moderator will be announced at a later date.
The second debate will be hosted by ABC News on September 10, and both candidates have agreed to participate, according to ABC News.
Mr. Biden had earlier on Wednesday called for two debates to be held before early voting begins for the November election, and Mr. Trump responded by saying he would do so.
On X (formerly Twitter), Biden wrote He said he had accepted an invitation from CNN to participate in the June 27 debate.
“Thank you, Donald,” Biden wrote. “Like you said, anytime, anywhere, anywhere.”
According to CNN, President Trump has also agreed to participate in the June debate.
Biden sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates saying he does not agree with the three-debate schedule set earlier by the bipartisan organization that has hosted presidential debates since the 1980s, and announced Wednesday's debate over the debates. We started an exchange. The first date was supposed to be September 16th.
“President Joe Biden believes that presidential debates provide timely and relevant information to help inform voters before they make their choices, and that presidential debates allow for direct comparisons between the candidates.” “We believe this is in the best interests of the United States,” Biden campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a letter to the committee.
President Trump subsequently accepted debate proposals from Biden on his social media site Truth Social in June and September. “I am ready and willing to debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September,” President Trump wrote.
Another wrote: “Crooked Joe Biden is the worst debater I've ever faced. He can't put two sentences together!”
Trump added that he would like to discuss immigration policy, electric vehicles, inflation, taxes and foreign policy with Biden. He also called for more than one debate.
break the precedent
The Biden campaign broke with precedent by informing the presidential debates that the president would not participate in them, arguing instead that news organizations should host the debates.
The Biden campaign will host the broadcast media outlets that hosted the 2016 Republican primary debate in which Mr. Trump participated, and the media organization that hosted the Democratic primary debate in 2020 in which Mr. Biden participated. proposed.
This is to “ensure that neither side can claim that the sponsoring organization is clearly unacceptable,” the letter said.
The campaign will hold the first debate in late June “after Donald Trump's New York criminal trial is likely to conclude and President Biden returns from meeting with world leaders at the G7 summit.” I suggested that.
The campaign said that the second debate should be held in early September, saying, “This is early enough to influence early voting, but candidates will be away from campaigning during the critical late September to October period.'' It won't be as slow as it needs to be.” ”
The Biden campaign is also proposing to hold a vice presidential debate in late July, after the Republican nominee and running mate are chosen at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
One question that remains unclear is whether independent candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will also be eligible to participate in the debate.
CNN said in a press release that in order to qualify for the debate, “a candidate's name must appear on enough state ballots to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the president by the eligibility deadline.” It must be written down.” I agree to accept the rules and format of the debate. Win at least 15% of the vote in four separate national polls of registered voters or potential voters who meet CNN's coverage criteria. ”
The statement said acceptable polls include CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, Marquette University School of Law, Monmouth University, NBC News, New York Times/Siena College, NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist College, and Quinnipiac University. , Wall Street Journal, Washington Post.
“The voting window to determine eligibility to participate in the debate will open on March 13, 2024 and close seven days prior to the date of the debate,” the statement said.