Trump Campaign Complains About 'Delayed' Debates With Biden

Former President Donald Trump's campaign is griping that the 2024 presidential debates have been "delayed" after the commission that organizes them declined a request to hold the debates sooner than usual.

During an interview last week with radio talk show icon Howard Stern of SiriusXM, President Joe Biden said that he would agree to debate Trump, ending months of speculation about whether the debates would even take place this year. Trump refused to debate any of his Republican presidential primary opponents before becoming the presumptive nominee.

The former president, who has repeatedly called for an accelerated debate schedule while claiming that Biden "can't put two sentences together," quickly pounced on the president's remarks and invited Biden to debate "ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE" in a Truth Social post on Friday.

Trump suggested that he and Biden hold their first debate on the same day, at the New York City courthouse where he has been on trial in his hush-money case. He later said that Biden "didn't show" for the impromptu debate, despite the president never agreeing to be there.

After Fox News reported on Tuesday that the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates—which set this year's debate schedule in November—would not agree to the ex-president's demands of holding more debates sooner than usual, the Trump campaign argued that the decision was "unacceptable."

"The Presidential Debate Commission's schedule does not begin until after millions of Americans will have already cast their ballots," Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said in a statement emailed to Newsweek.

"This is unacceptable, and by refusing to move up the debates, they are doing a grave disservice to the American public who deserve to hear from both candidates before voting begins," they added.

LaCivita and Wiles said that the Trump campaign was "committed to making" its preferred debate schedule "happen with or without the Presidential Debate Commission," while extending "an invitation to every television network in America that wishes to host a debate."

"[Former] President Trump has stated he will debate Joe Biden anytime, anywhere, anyplace, and Joe Biden himself just agreed to debate," they said. "We once again call on Joe Biden's team to work with us to set one up as soon as possible. The American people deserve it."

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Biden campaign via email on Tuesday night.

Three general election debates traditionally take place prior to presidential elections, although Trump and Biden only took part in two debates in 2020 due to Trump refusing to participate in one of the debates after it became a virtual event due to COVID-19 concerns.

The three debates that the commission has scheduled to take place between the nominees prior to this year's election are as follows: September 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas; September 25 at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania; and October 9 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The election will occur November 5. It is unclear whether Trump and Biden, the presumptive nominees of their parties, will participate in the scheduled debates. Biden said during his Stern interview last week that he would be willing to debate Trump "somewhere" but did not "know when."