President Joe Biden said Friday he is willing to debate presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump before the November election, a change in position after previously being non-committal about the idea.
'I'm somewhere. I don't know when,” the president told SiriusXM's Howard Stern when asked if he planned to debate his predecessor. “I'm happy to debate with him.”
Last month, Biden said he was open to debates about Trump, but added that it depended on the former president's “behavior.”
Some commentators have done so argued that Biden should skip the debates entirely this year because standing on a stage with Trump would normalize his unprecedented efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which culminated in the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
Democratic lawmakers have also questioned the president's wisdom in debating Trump, even as they say it is ultimately a decision for Biden to make.
“Normally I'm in favor of debates, but Donald Trump is not exactly a traditional candidate,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told JS earlier this week. “I think the American people are going to judge them based on each candidate's long track record on issues, personality and integrity. A debate may really be unnecessary here.”
“I saw him do outrageous things and say outrageous things,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said of Trump in a Hill report from January. “It's just an opportunity for him to show his extremism.”
Trump, meanwhile, has challenged Biden during his campaign, calling for more debates than usual placing an empty desk on stage at his rallies to represent where Biden could stand.
“I'm trying to get him into the debate,” Trump said earlier this month. “Any time any place.”
Trump did not participate in the 2024 Republican Party primaries despite repeated calls from his rivals to join them on stage. The ex-president said he saw no reason to debate since he was leading the race.
On Friday, Trump's campaign welcomed Biden's comments indicating he would be willing to debate the ex-president.
“Okay, let's set it up!” Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita wrote in a social media post.
Trump himself later invited Biden to debate on stage at his upcoming rally in Michigan or at the courthouse in New York City, where he is on trial for falsifying company records related to hush money he paid to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels to impose.
“Let's have the debate in the courthouse tonight – I'll wait for national television!” Trump said in a after on his social media platform Truth Social.
During his interview with Stern, Biden also criticized those in the US media whose reporting on Trump he said was too soft.
“The free press doesn't speak as much as it used to,” Biden said. “I think some of them are concerned about the attack on him, whether they want to hire him.”
