Biden & Trump Aiming To Debate In June, With Caveats

Source: The Washington Post / Getty

President Joe Biden and Donald Trump may be facing off in a debate as early as this summer, but there may be some obstacles due to a request for new rules.
According to reports , President Joe Biden has signaled that he’s ready to debate Donald Trump at least twice before the elections take place in November and as early as June. These wishes were expressed in a letter sent by Biden’s reelection campaign committee to the Commission on Presidential Debates . However, President Biden has expressed in the letter that he would decline to take part in the three scheduled general debates which were set for Sept. 16, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9. The letter also cites that the commission “was unable or unwilling to enforce the rules in the 2020 debates.” It also blasted the commission for allowing Trump to take part in that debate while ill – Trump would later declare that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

The decision is a bold departure for President Biden, who has dedicated his career to preserving the institutions of the nation’s government. The letter, signed by campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, also proposes negotiating with television networks like ABC, NBC, and Telemundo directly to host that first debate and a second “in early September at the start of the fall campaign season, early enough to influence early voting, but not so late as to require the candidates to leave the campaign trail in the critical late September and October period,” O’Malley Dillon writes. They also call for new rules such as the cutting of microphones when a candidate goes over and no in-house audiences.

The potential new rules would be a major sticking point for Trump, who played to the audience in his debate appearances. Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, representatives for Trump are in accord with avoiding the Commission on Presidential Debates, issuing their statement on May 1: “We must host debates earlier than ever before,” they said. “Again, we call on every television network in America that wishes to host a debate to extend an invitation to our campaign and we will gladly negotiate with the Biden campaign, with or without the stubborn Presidential Debates Commission.” They reason that Biden is slower than in 2020 mentally, and Trump’s lead in key battleground states in the polls.