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BIDEN AND TRUMP AGREE TO JUNE 27 CNN AND SEPTEMBER 10 ABC PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

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At a breakneck speed President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have agreed to presidential debates. In the process of agreeing to these debates both candidates have nixed debates planned by bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

Why jump at debates so soon? The bottom line is that each candidate and their supporters believe debates will expose the other’s weakness. Each side believes the old adage “familiarity breeds contempt” (for the other side).

The Washington Post:

President Biden and former president Donald Trump agreed Wednesday to a June 27 debate on CNN and a Sept. 10 debate broadcast by ABC News, hours after Biden announced he would bypass the decades-old tradition of three fall meetings organized by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

Trump’s campaign team released a statement calling on Biden to agree to two more presidential debates in July and August.

“I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times,” Trump wrote earlier Wednesday on Truth Social. “I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds. …

“Just tell me when, I’ll be there,” he continued, before referencing a tag line from professional boxing. “‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!’

President Biden and Donald Trump both secured their parties’ nominations for the presidency, formalizing a general-election rematch.

The public agreement follows private back-channel discussions about possible meetings. The officials with the Biden and Trump campaigns have had informal conversations on debates in recent weeks, focused on meetings that would not involve the commission, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private events.

The CNN debate in Atlanta, which does not yet have an announced moderator, will be conducted without a live audience and is open to any presidential candidate who consistently polls above 15 percent in approved public surveys and is on enough state ballots to win a majority of electoral college votes, the network said. ABC News did not immediately release its qualification requirements.

The Biden proposal, outlined in a video message and letter to the commission, called for direct negotiations between the Trump and Biden campaigns over the rules, moderators and network hosts for the one-on-one encounters. Biden proposed a separate vice-presidential debate in July, after the Republican nominating convention and before the Democratic nominating convention.

CNN:

The news is the latest development in a quickly escalating tit-for-tat over debates between the two political rivals. Biden’s campaign earlier called on Trump to join him for two presidential debates hosted by news organizations and formally informed the Commission on Presidential Debates that the president will not participate in its previously scheduled fall debates. The former president quickly said he was on board with earlier debates and told radio host Hugh Hewitt that he would accept any moderator.

Biden only recently said that he was happy to debate Trump, though he was non-committal on the format of such a debate, telling radio host Howard Stern, “I’m happy to debate him.” In a social media video and a subsequent letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, Biden’s campaign laid out its proposed terms, including possible debate dates in June and September.

“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again,” Biden said.

“Well, make my day, pal, I’ll even do it twice. So let’s pick the dates, Donald – I hear you’re free on Wednesdays,” Biden continued, alluding to Trump’s court schedule. In the letter, Biden’s campaign acknowledged that the first debate would likely take place after Trump’s criminal hush-money trial has concluded.

In a post to Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump accepted the revised schedule: “I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September,” adding that he would “strongly recommend” more than the two debates proposed. A senior Trump adviser told CNN they are “ready to debate” Biden, and reviewing the terms but are eager for an onstage match-up.

Trump’s team also called for the candidates to participate in four total debates – twice the number requested by Biden. The Biden campaign sidestepped questions about that request on Wednesday.

“President Biden didn’t mince his words in the video,” Biden’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, adding, “He said two debates — one in June, one in September, before voters began casting their votes — no spectacle, respect for the rules.”

Graphic: Dreamstime