Staff Reports
President Joe Biden announced that he has accepted an invitation from CNN to debate on June 27th, calling out former President Donald Trump to join him. This would mark the first debate host to be publicly announced following Biden’s challenge to Trump earlier in the day. In a social media post, Biden taunted Trump, referencing his openness to debate “anywhere, any time, any place.”
Biden’s challenge came in the form of a video, where he humorously mentioned hearing about Trump’s availability on Wednesdays due to breaks in his legal proceedings. This move is seen as an attempt to reignite the debate rivalry that began during the 2020 election.
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.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 15, 2024
The animosity between Trump and CNN has been well-documented since the 2016 election, with Trump accusing the network of bias and even labeling it as the “Clinton News Network” and “fake news.” Despite this contentious history, Biden seems to have chosen CNN as the platform for his proposed debate with Trump.
Biden’s campaign has also communicated with the Commission on Presidential Debates, expressing their intention to skip the commission’s events and proposing direct one-on-one debates with Trump in June and September instead. Additionally, Biden’s camp has specified that they prefer the debates to be hosted by what they deem as moderate networks, laying down criteria based on previous debate hosting experience.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Trump campaign for a response to Biden’s challenge, but no statement has been provided as of now.
