Trump, Biden agree to debate June 27, Sept. 10

(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have both agreed to a debate on June 27, 2024, on CNN and one on Sept. 10, 2024, on ABC.

Biden first announced he had agreed to the debate on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Trump told Fox News digital reporter Brooke Singman he also agreed.

CNN then officially announced the debate. There will be no audience as Trump and Biden face off, despite Trump’s request for one. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., also running for the presidency, will have to hit 15% in four separate national polls by June 20 to join Trump and Biden on stage. Currently, he is polling at 7.6% according to DecisionDesk HQ.

ABC also announced it would be holding a debate between the two candidates on Sept. 10.

Biden’s campaign on Thursday proposed two debates with Trump, bucking the Commission on Presidential Debates and potentially setting the stage for a face-off as soon as next month.

On TruthSocial, Trump said those times work for him.

“I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September,” Trump posted. “I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!’”

The Biden campaign called for the first debate to take place in late June, after Biden returns from the Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in Europe and after Trump’s hush money trial in New York will likely have concluded.

Trump has said he would debate Biden “any time, any place, anywhere” in an effort to get the president to commit to joining him on stage ahead of November’s rematch of the 2020 election.

NewsNation also obtained a copy of the letter the Biden campaign sent to the Commission on Presidential Debates outlining the president’s terms for a debate with Trump.

“President Joe Biden believes the interests of the American people are best served by presidential debates that offer timely and relevant information to help inform voters before they make their choices — and that allow a head-to-head comparison of the two candidates with a chance of winning the election,” the letter read.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also responded to the announcements this morning, saying Trump and Biden are “colluding to lock America into a head-to-head matchup that 70% say they do not want.”

He added the two candidates are excluding him from the debate because they are afraid he could win.

Read the Biden campaign’s memo here: