This Wednesday, May 15, Joe Biden challenged his rival Donald Trump to debate twice before the presidential election between them, on June 27 on CNN then on September 10 on ABC, and the latter immediately accepted.
“Today, he says he wants to debate me again. In that case, please me, my guy. I’ll even do it twice,” said the 81-year-old Democrat, candidate in November for a second term, in a video message. His campaign team specified for its part that the American president wanted to debate for the first time after the G7 summit in Italy, which will take place from June 13 to 15, then “at the beginning of September”.
“I am ready and decided to debate against ‘Joe the Crook’ on the two proposed dates in June and September,” the 77-year-old former president immediately reacted on his Truth Social network, using the nickname he goes by often his opponent. “I strongly suggest doing more than two debates,” added the Republican mogul.
Unlike the Democratic camp, which is demanding a confrontation without an audience, Donald Trump judged that the debate, “to make it more exciting”, should be held in “a very large room, even if it seems that Biden is afraid of crowds “. In his video message, Joe Biden mockingly told him: “Let’s choose the dates Donald. I heard you were free on Wednesday.”
“I will be there”
The American president is referring to the only weekly break in the trial against his predecessor, who is required to appear in New York for the rest of the week in a case of hidden payments to a former porn actress. “Tell me when , I’ll be there, let’s go for the fight!!!”, replied Donald Trump. The two main candidates will face each other for their first debate of the campaign on June 27, CNN announced later, which will organize the event. The duel, which will take place without an audience according to a press release from the channel, will take place in Atlanta, Georgia (southeast). The ABC channel, for its part, confirmed that it would host a second debate on September 10.
Joe Biden’s campaign team had sent a letter to the commission which usually organizes electoral debates, to explain that its candidate would not comply with the schedule established by this body. The commission had already set three dates: September 16, October 1 and October 9.
The Democrat demanded, among other demands, that the debate be held without an audience, in a television studio with only the two main candidates and presenters. “The debate must be held for the benefit of Americans who follow it on television, not as entertainment in front of an audience of agitated or disruptive supporters and donors,” the campaign team wrote.