CBS News and 11 other major news organizations on Sunday issued a joint statement calling on President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump to engage in debates during campaign season 2024.
In the letter, news organizations say it is too early to extend invitations to candidates for debates, but it is not too early for presidential candidates who expect to meet the eligibility criteria to publicly state their commitment to debates in the fall.
“If there’s one thing Americans can agree on during this polarized time, it’s that the stakes in this election are extremely high,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “Against this backdrop, there is simply no substitute for candidates debating with each other and before the American people their visions for the future of our nation.”
ABC News, The Associated Press, CNN, C-SPAN, FOX News Media, NBCUniversal News Group, NewsNation, Noticias Univision (Univision Network News), NPR, PBS NewsHour and USA TODAY joined CBS News in signing the joint statement.
The Republican National Committee voted unanimously in 2022 to barring future Republican presidential candidates from participating in debates hosted by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, the body that has sponsored general election debates since 1988.
Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita addressed the Commission on Presidential Debates in a letter Thursday, saying Trump is ready to debate. They did not address the 2022 GOP vote, but urged the committee to be fair and impartial.
Evelyn Hochstein/REUTERS
“Fairness in such a setting is paramount and the Commission must ensure that the debates sponsored by the Commission in 2024 are genuinely fair and conducted impartially,” they wrote. “The commission should move the schedule of its proposed 2024 debates to ensure that more Americans have a full chance to see the candidates before they go to the polls, and we would advocate adding more debates in addition to these in the proposed schedule.’
Trump, who has avoided debating his GOP rivals in the primary debates, has previously faced some criticism for failing to appear at those debates and face questions on stage alongside other Republican candidates. But in a December interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump suggested he would be ready 10 debates with Mr. Biden. He also discussed the debate with President Biden in a Thursday post to Truth Social.
“Biden can’t talk,” Trump said. “Biden can’t debate, Biden can’t string two sentences together.”
At Saturday’s rally in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, Trump had two podiums set up on stage. He spoke to the crowd from one podium and left the other empty except for a placard that read: “Anytime. Everywhere. Everywhere”. He pointed to the department during his campaign speech.
“See the podium? I challenge Crooked Joe Biden for a debate anytime, anywhere, anywhere. Right there,” Trump said. “And we have to have a debate because our country is going in the wrong direction so badly and although it’s usually a little early, we have to have a debate.”
President Biden, asked on March 8 if he would engage in a debate with Trump, said “it depends on his behavior.” The president previously talked about a potential debate in early February while visiting Las Vegas. After being told that Trump wanted to debate him as soon as possible, Mr Biden said: “If I were him, I would like to debate too. He has nothing else to do.”
