Joe Biden agrees to debate Donald Trump after weeks of uncertainty

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US President Joe Biden said he was “happy” to debate Donald Trump, after weeks of uncertainty about whether the two leading candidates in the race for the White House would abide by the tradition of a televised face-off.

In an interview with Howard Stern, the US radio host, on Friday, Biden said he was willing to debate the former Republican president, even though he has dubbed him a threat to the country’s democracy.

“I don’t know when, I am happy to debate him,” Biden told Stern during the interview in New York. Trump and Biden debated each other during the 2020 presidential campaign, as has been the norm for decades, but there have been doubts about their appetite for another round in 2024.

Trump refused to debate any of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023 and early this year, and has often been critical of the networks and moderators of presidential debates. Biden had not said until Friday whether he would be willing to participate, casting doubt on his desire for a direct televised confrontation.

But Trump has increasingly put pressure on Biden to debate him, forcing the president’s hand. On Friday, after Biden said he was available to debate, Trump responded that he could even do it immediately on Friday evening or next week.

“Everyone knows he doesn’t really mean it, but in case he does, I say, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE, an old expression used by Fighters,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, in between appearances in a New York courtroom where he is on trial facing criminal charges that he falsified business records to help his political prospects.

In recent US elections, there have been three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate, in the final weeks of the campaign and usually in September or October.

The non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates has announced the first presidential debate is set to occur at Texas State University on September 16, with the second at Virginia State University on October 1, and the third on October 9 at the University of Utah.

But the Trump and Biden campaigns could agree to set their own schedule and choose the format and moderators — and decide to debate much earlier than usual.