The presidential campaign team of United States President Biden announced that Vice President Kamala Harris is willing to debate with the Republican presidential candidate, former President Trump’s chosen running mate, on either July 23 or August 13.
The announcement was made by Biden’s campaign team on Thursday, May 16. Just the day before, Trump promptly accepted Biden’s invitation to participate in two presidential debates in June and September.
Trump posted on his media platform “Truth Social,” saying, “I am very honored to accept the invitation from CNN to participate in the debate on June 27 against Joe Biden, the worst president in American history and a real threat to democracy. Similarly, I also accept the debate against the fraud Joe on September 10 by ABC News.”
In addition to the two presidential debates proposed by Biden, Trump also pushed for more debates. He posted on “Truth Social” on Wednesday, May 15, expressing his hope for Biden to join him in the third debate hosted by Fox News on October 2.
The campaign team broke the long-standing tradition of scheduling and conditions set by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, an organization sponsored jointly by the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States, which has been organizing presidential debate affairs since 1988.
Biden’s campaign team, citing disruptions in past presidential debates, requested to hold the debates earlier before the start of the general election voting and in a television studio without an audience.
They also demanded the microphones of candidates not speaking to be muted during speaking time to prevent interruptions. They stated that the vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News will follow the same rules.
During an interview with TMJ4 in New York, Trump mentioned that he might wait until the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15 to announce his running mate, leaving little time for his running mate to prepare before the debate.
It is currently unclear whether Trump’s campaign team will accept the proposed location or date for the vice presidential debate.