WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump has posed a challenge to debate President Joe Biden as soon as Monday night, calling on Biden to face him on the debate stage.
Trump challenges Biden to debate
Trump’s challenge came after Biden told Howard Stern during a Sirius XM interview Friday that he would debate the former president if he controlled his behavior.
While the president hasn’t offered many comments about a matchup between him and Trump, he said he’d be open to the challenge.
“I don’t know when but I’m happy to debate him,” Biden told Stern.
Trump fired back at the president’s comment. He said he was ready, though he questioned Bidens’s willingness.
“I’ve invited him to the courthouse that he has us tied up in, his administration. This is all being done through Washington. It’s all a well-coordinated attack on a political opponent. But I’m here. I’m ready, willing and able. And if he wants, I’ll do it on Monday night, Tuesday night or Wednesday night. We’ll be in Michigan,” Trump said.
Biden open to Trump matchup
Until now, Biden’s reelection campaign had declined to commit to participating in the debates, a hallmark of every general election presidential campaign since 1976.
Biden himself had also been vague, saying in March that whether he debated Trump “depends on his behavior.” The two men debated twice during the 2020 general election — a campaign year constrained significantly by COVID-19 restrictions — and Biden was notably irritated by Trump’s antics in the chaotic first debate that year.
Trump campaign officials have said for some time that the former president is prepared to debate Biden anytime. Chris LaCivita, Trump campaign senior adviser, quickly responded to Biden’s remarks on the social media site X: “OK let’s set it up!”
Later Friday, Trump reacted to Biden’s new public willingness to debate by saying, “Everyone knows he doesn’t really mean it.” The former president suggested evenings because he is otherwise attending proceedings for his hush money criminal trial in New York.
Trump is required to be in court every day but Wednesdays. In a statement on his social media platform, Trump also challenged Biden to debate at the Manhattan courthouse on Friday night, since both men were in New York at the same time. Biden has since returned to Washington.
Trump did not participate in any of the Republican primary debates this cycle.
RFK Jr. wants a piece of the action
Meanwhile, Trump faces a debate challenge from third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The two went back and forth on social media after RFK Jr. criticized Trump for not living up to campaign promises in 2016.
Trump accused RFK Jr. of helping Biden’s campaign.
It was then that RFK Jr. proposed a challenge for the two of them to debate instead of putting out jabs over social media.
NewsNation was among multiple national news outlets that signed a letter, urging both Trump and Biden to debate in the fall.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced the dates and locations for the three general election debates between the presidential candidates: Sept. 16 in San Marcos, Texas; Oct. 1 in Petersburg, Virginia; and Oct. 9 in Salt Lake City. The lone vice presidential debate is slated for Sept. 25 in Easton, Pennsylvania.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.