Source: Fulton County Jail / Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump have officially agreed to two debates, with the first to be held in June.
According to reports, the first debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump will take place on June 27 in Georgia and will be aired on CNN. This will be the first of two debates – the second will occur on September 10, which will be aired on ABC. The news comes a day after it was reported that Biden’s campaign had sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates on Wednesday (May 15) expressing that he would not be participating in their three scheduled debates before the November election.
The June 27 debate will be moderated by CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis will moderate the September debate, which has no location announced as of yet. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network that he had accepted an invite from Fox News for a third debate on October 2, but Biden “campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dixon said that Biden “made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms”. There will be no audience for both debates, and as a candidate speaks the other candidate’s microphone will be deactivated.
The timing of the debate is a blow to the commission, which has dictated the terms and organized presidential debates since 1988. But the Biden and Trump campaign teams have expressed their displeasure with the commission in the past.
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. objected to the news of the debates. He is currently below the guidelines to participate, sitting at below the 15% support level in four recognized polls In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he wrote: “They are trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win. Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy.”
President Biden and Donald Trump have been trading barbs publicly over the issue of debating each other within the past few weeks. The president released a video through a post on X calling Trump out to debate, channeling Clint Eastwood with the phrase “Well, make my day, pal” and ending with “I hear you’re free on Wednesdays” referring to Trump’s current “hush money” trial taking place in New York City.