Following President Joe Biden's agreement to participate in debates against former President Donald Trump ahead of November's election — with more than a few significant caveats — CNN and ABC News confirmed they would host showdowns in June and September, respectively.
"CNN will host an election debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald J. Trump on June 27, 2024 at 9pm ET from the crucial battleground state of Georgia," announced a press release from the network Wednesday morning.
The debate will be held at CNN's studios in Atlanta where "no audience will be present" and the moderators have yet to be announced by the network. The showdown will air live on CNN's channels, streaming platform, and website.
JUST ANNOUNCED: CNN will host a 2024 Presidential Debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in Atlanta, GA. The debate will air live on 6/27 at 9pET on @CNN, CNN Max and without a cable login on https://t.co/dOLGQHu7eC. More: https://t.co/rjbaLohxLs pic.twitter.com/g3PCztJInt
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) May 15, 2024
The criteria for the debate include being eligible to serve as president under the requirements of Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, having secured a spot on ballots in enough states to reach the 270 electoral college vote threshold to win, and draw at least 15 percent support in four national polls that meet CNN's "standards for reporting."
The network said polls that meet its standards "include those sponsored by: CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, Marquette University Law School, Monmouth University, NBC News, the New York Times/Siena College, NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist College, Quinnipiac University, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post."
The candidates also confirmed on Wednesday that they had agreed to participate in a debate hosted by ABC News at its studios on September 10, though details on timing and qualification criteria have yet to be released by the network.
Trump demanded Biden face him in debates for months until the president finally acquiesced, albeit with more than a few "guardrails" demanded by the Biden re-election campaign.
The actual Biden debate news today:
— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) May 15, 2024
Biden is refusing to debate Trump in front of an audience of voters.
His campaign is demanding big guardrails for Biden, including:
- No audience.
- No RFK Jr.
- No Trump remarks during Biden's answers.
- Only Biden-friendly outlets &…
"Today is a good day for America's voters, now that Joe Biden has finally accepted President Trump's debate challenge," the former president's campaign said in a memo to Biden's re-election team.
"But we believe there should be more than just two opportunities for the American people to hear more from the candidates themselves," Trump's campaign emphasized. "With the soaring inflation of Bidenomics costing America’s hardworking families at the grocery store and at the gas pump, with our border being totally overrun, with chaos at home, chaos across the world, chaos on our college campuses, we should have one debate per month."
The Trump camp's proposal is for additional Trump v. Biden debates in July and August plus a vice presidential debate in addition to the June and September debates already agreed to by the campaigns. "Additional dates will allow voters to have maximum exposure to the records and future visions of each candidate," the memo argued. "We believe the American people deserve more than what the Biden administration has to offer."
Trump sounded off on Truth Social as well, declaring it is his "great honor" to accept the CNN and ABC News debates. In another post Wednesday morning, Trump said he "strongly" recommends "more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds...because he doesn't get them."
"Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!," Trump added.
This is a developing story and may be updated.