President Biden is not ruling out debating former President Trump, as the pair prepare for a likely head-to-head match-up in November’s presidential election.
“It depends on his behavior,” Biden said when asked Friday whether he’d commit to a debate with the former president.
Trump, who skipped every Republican presidential primary debate held this cycle, even as the race winnowed to just two top GOP contenders, renewed calls this week for Biden to debate him ahead of Election Day.
“It is important, for the Good of our Country, that Joe Biden and I Debate Issues that are so vital to America, and the American People,” Trump wrote Wednesday evening on Truth Social. “Therefore, I am calling for Debates, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE!”
The Biden campaign dismissed Trump’s call for debates as “thirsty for attention” just before the president took the podium to deliver the high-profile State of the Union address Thursday evening.
During the speech, Biden took several shots at his predecessor, painting his administration as a stark contrast to the possibility of another Trump term.
Vice President Harris in a recent interview sidestepped questions about whether Biden will or should debate the former president as the race revs up.
“Will President Biden commit to debating Donald Trump?” NBC News’s Peter Alexander asked Harris in an interview set to air Friday evening on NBC Nightly News.
The vice president said she hadn’t yet talked to the president about it, and sidestepped the question to argue that Biden and Trump’s differences are so stark that the choice is “clear.”
“Should President Biden debate him, in your view?” Alexander pressed.
“That’s a choice that is gonna be decided upon soon, and we’ll keep you posted,” Harris said.
Biden swept the states that held Democratic contests on Super Tuesday earlier this week — and Trump won all but one on the Republican side. Following the results, the former president’s only primary rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, suspended her bid shortly after.
With winning streaks for both party front-runners, the general race is all but set as they both climb toward the delegates they need to score their respective party nods.