President Joe Biden on Thursday gave the clearest indication yet that he planned to debate former President Donald Trump.
Biden hosted the Las Vegas Aces in the East Room on Thursday afternoon, the team that won the WNBA Finals in October.
As he left, he was asked when he would debate Trump.
“Prepare it,” the president ordered as he left the room.
Earlier Thursday, Trump himself had demanded that Biden “get it ready right now” in a pre-recorded video he shared with Truth Social, which was live-streamed as he sat in court listening to the second day of porn star Stormy Daniels’ testimony. in the case of hush money.
President Joe Biden said Thursday “get it ready” when asked when he might debate former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Earlier Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was ready to debate President Joe Biden “wherever he is.”
“We could do it in DC, even pointing to the White House, or in New York, when your radical left fascists are done with election interference against your political opponent, me,” Trump said in the pre-recorded video, posted on Truth Social. while he was in court
“I’m ready to go wherever you are,” Trump said of a debate. “We could do it in DC, even locating the White House, or in New York when your radical left-wing fascists are done with election interference against your political opponent, me.”
Trump has long claimed that his litany of legal problems are politically motivated against him.
The former president called attention to comments Biden made about what Trump called the ‘ratings-challenged Howard Stern show.’
During a surprise meeting with Stern late last month, Biden indicated he would debate Trump.
‘I am, somewhere. I don’t know when,’ the president said. “But I’m happy to debate him.”
Asked Thursday night aboard Air Force One whether Biden was serious about his intention to debate Trump, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre indicated she couldn’t really answer because of the Hatch Act.
“All I can do is refer you to the president’s statement and also to the president’s campaign, but I don’t want to even take a step, dive into that, I have to be very conscious,” Jean-Pierre said.
The Presidential Debate Commission announced in November the dates and locations of the three planned presidential debates and the vice-presidential debate, which will begin in mid-September.
Trump has said he wants them before.
And last week, his campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles made that complaint official, saying that “the schedule does not begin until millions of Americans have already cast their votes.”
“This is unacceptable, and by refusing to move up the debates, they are doing a disservice to the American public who deserve to hear from both candidates before voting begins,” LaCivita and Wiles said.
The CPD retreated in a statement noting that the September 16 debate “will be the earliest televised general election debate ever held.”
The committee said only North Carolina and Pennsylvania will allow voters to request and then mail absentee ballots at this time.
The CPD also argued that it needed to schedule the first debate after September 6, which is the deadline for three states to certify whether an independent candidate can appear on the ballot.
The bipartisan group had established criteria in November that third-party candidates would only be considered if they appeared on a sufficient number of state ballots to win the Electoral College.
This has been the biggest challenge for independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign, as he has currently only met the requirements to appear on a handful of state general election ballots.
Trump and Biden faced each other twice during the 2020 election cycle.
The second debate was canceled after Trump contracted COVID-19 and refused to participate in it virtually.