Photo: Alamy
A spokesperson for Joe Biden confirmed this week that he will be debating President Donald Trump during this year’s intense 2024 election cycle amidst ongoing controversy over the debate schedule.
During an interview on MSNBC, Biden spokeswoman Adrienne Elrod stated that Biden would “absolutely” face Trump in 2024, noting, “President Biden has made it very clear that he will be debating Donald Trump.”
In late April, Biden perhaps inadvertently committed to debating Trump during a conversation with Howard Stern. He said that he would be willing to debate Trump “somewhere” but didn’t offer specifics.
President Trump immediately jumped on Biden’s comments, remarking that he was available to spar with his political opponent as soon as possible, even suggesting that Biden show up to the New York courthouse where he has been stuck sitting on trial for several weeks.
President Trump has also been routinely including an additional extra podium with him on the campaign trail to represent Biden’s unwillingness to debate thus far. However, there has been some contention over the debate schedule, which is reportedly set to begin after early voting in 2024 kicks off.
The Trump campaign has bucked against this, arguing that it is “unacceptable” for early voting to begin before the two main nominees running for president were even scheduled for a national debate.
Trump advisors Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles released a joint statement on the matter on May 1:
“The American people deserve to hear from the candidates BEFORE millions of ballots are mailed and cast. We must host debates earlier than ever before. Again, we call on every television network in America that wishes to host a debate to extend an invitation to our campaign and we will gladly negotiate with the Biden campaign, with or without the stubborn Presidential Debates Commission.”
The first debate is scheduled to take place in San Marco, Texas, on September 16, 2024, per Deadline.
