--- title: Biden and Trump Agree to Debate Before November Election description: Biden and Trump agreed to two televised debates before the election in June and September. canonical: https://time.com/6978328/joe-biden-donald-trump-agree-debates-election/ author: Nik Popli article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-05-15T14:18:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-19T13:25:58.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Biden and Trump Agree to Debate Twice Before November Election og:description: Biden and Trump agreed to two televised debates before the election in June and September. og:url: https://time.com/6978328/joe-biden-donald-trump-agree-debates-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt032e685564f26548/698a56cf929fadb89abfc868/GettyImages-2147786825.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Former President Trump Holds Rally In Schnecksville, Pennsylvania og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Biden and Trump Agree to Debate Twice Before November Election twitter:description: Biden and Trump agreed to two televised debates before the election in June and September. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt032e685564f26548/698a56cf929fadb89abfc868/GettyImages-2147786825.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Biden and Trump Agree to Debate Twice Before November Election. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=fe804c71-ac10-4b65-aa8b-17629caddeb0&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: These Are the Biggest Moments From the First 2024 Presidential Debate [Watch (HLS stream): These Are the Biggest Moments From the First 2024 Presidential Debate](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/aYKZlt9t.m3u8) (2:59)  _Published 2024-06-28. Awkward exchanges, personal jabs, and falsehoods dominated the CNN Presidential Debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump._  by [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/)  ## Nik Popli Staff Writer Updated: Jan 19, 2026 1:25 PM UTCPublished: May 15, 2024 2:18 PM UTC Awkward exchanges, personal jabs, and falsehoods dominated the CNN Presidential Debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.  by [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/)  ## Nik Popli Staff Writer Updated: Jan 19, 2026 1:25 PM UTCPublished: May 15, 2024 2:18 PM UTC President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have agreed to meet for a pair of televised debates before the Nov. 5 election. The first debate will be on June 27 hosted by CNN, [the network announced](https://twitter.com/cnnpr/status/1790757195455324413?s=46&t=Ed6b3Tk6qtOWW%5FBzA27Q9Q) Wednesday, giving voters an opportunity to hear from both candidates before casting their ballots. The second will be hosted by ABC on Sept. 10\. Both candidates accepted invitations to the debates, they said. "Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020\. Since then he hasn't shown up for a debate," Biden said in a video message [posted earlier in the day on X](https://x.com/JoeBiden/status/1790713878248038478). "Now he's acting like he wants to debate me again. Make my day pal. I'll even do it twice." Biden referenced Trump’s ongoing New York [hush-money trial](https://time.com/6965419/trump-hush-money-trial-legal-questions/) by joking that he is “free on Wednesdays,” the usual day off in the trial. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee who refused to debate his rivals in the primary race, responded to [a proposal by the Biden campaign](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/us/politics/biden-trump-debates.html) by saying he is “ready and willing” to debate. He has in recent weeks been challenging Biden to engage in a one-on-one matchup with him, offering to debate the President “anytime, anywhere, anyplace.” **Read More:** [_How Far Trump Would Go_](https://time.com/6972021/donald-trump-2024-election-interview/) “Crooked Joe Biden is the WORST debater I have ever faced - He can’t put two sentences together!” Trump [wrote on Truth Social](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/112445162136412936). “I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September.” Trump said he accepted an invitation for a third debate on Oct. 2 hosted by Fox News, though it’s unclear if Biden will agree. Trump's campaign [also proposed](https://twitter.com/trumpwarroom/status/1790763802037760461?s=46&t=Ed6b3Tk6qtOWW%5FBzA27Q9Q) holding two additional debates in July and August. Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon [said in a letter ](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/us/politics/biden-trump-debates.html)that Biden would not take part in the traditional televised showdowns organized by the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, citing the commission’s late schedule and past struggles to keep candidates from violating the debate rules. Trump has also leveled criticisms against the commission, arguing that it is biased against him and begins too late in the campaign season. The Biden campaign proposed several criteria for how the debates should be structured, calling on the debates to be hosted by a broadcast organization that moderated a Republican primary debate in 2016 as well as one that did so in the Democratic primary in 2020, “so neither campaign can assert that the sponsoring organization is obviously unacceptable.” Moderators for the debate, the Biden campaign argued, should be “selected by the broadcast host from among their regular personnel, so as to avoid a ‘ringer’ or partisan.” **Read More:** [_Biden’s Campaign Is In Trouble. Will the Turnaround Plan Work?_](https://time.com/6958784/biden-campaign-strategy-problems-2024/) “There should be firm time limits for answers, and alternate turns to speak — so that the time is evenly divided and we have an exchange of views, not a spectacle of mutual interruption,” O’Malley Dillon wrote in the letter. She also argued that the debates should be conducted for voters to watch on television from their homes instead of in front of live audiences “with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering.” Trump said he disagreed with Biden’s call not to debate in front of a crowd. “I would strongly recommend more than two debates,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “And, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds - That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!’” While both candidates have agreed to at least two debates, Biden's team is signaling skepticism that Trump will stick to the plan. "“Donald Trump has a long history of playing games with debates: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, pulling out at the last minute, or not showing up at all," O'Malley Dillon said in a statement. "No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates. We’ll see Donald Trump on June 27th in Atlanta – if he shows up.” Biden also called for a vice presidential debate to take place in late July after the Republican National Convention. ## Transcript [00:00] If I'm elected, I'm going to restore Ro Wade. [00:02] So that means he can take the life of the baby in the ninth month and even after birth, [00:08] because some states, Democrat run, take it after birth. [00:12] Again, the governor former governor of Virginia, [00:14] put the baby down then we decide what to do with it. [00:17] Get the total ban on the total initiative relative to [00:22] what we're going to do with more border patrol and more asylum officers. President Trump. [00:28] I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. [00:31] I don't think he knows what he said either. [00:32] Look, Hamas cannot be allowed to be continued. [00:35] We continue to send our experts and [00:37] our intelligence people as to how they can get Hamas like we did Bin Laden. [00:41] But he said the only one who wants to keep going is Hamas. [00:44] Actually, Israel is the one, [00:45] and you should let him go and let him finish the job. He doesn't want to do it. [00:48] He's become like a Palestinian, [00:50] but they don't like him because he's a very bad Palestinian. He's a weak one. [00:54] On January 6, we had a great border. [00:57] Nobody coming through, very few. [00:59] On January 6, we were energy independent. [01:02] On January 6, we had the lowest taxes ever. [01:04] We had the lowest regulations ever. [01:06] On January 6, we were respected all over the world, [01:10] all over the world, we were respected. [01:12] And then he comes in, and we're now left at. [01:15] We're like, a bunch of stupid people. [01:17] I said peacefully and patriotically. [01:19] He encouraged those folks to go up at Capitol Hill, number one. [01:22] I sat in the dining room off the Oval office. [01:25] He sat there for 3 hours, [01:27] 3 hours watching, begging, [01:29] being begged by his vice president. [01:31] The only person on this stage is a convicted felon is the man I'm looking at right now. [01:36] And the fact of the matter is, [01:38] he is what he's telling you is simply not true. [01:41] But when he talks about a convicted felon, [01:43] his son is a convicted felon, [01:45] at a very high level. His son is convicted. [01:47] Gonna be convicted probably numerous other times. [01:49] Should have been convicted before, [01:51] but his justice department let [01:53] the statute of limitations lapse on the most important things. [01:56] How many billions of dollars do you owe in [01:58] civil penalties for molesting a woman in public, [02:01] for doing a whole range of things of having sex with [02:05] a porn star on the night while your wife was pregnant. [02:09] I mean, what are he talking about? [02:12] You have the morals of an alley cat. [02:14] Give you a minute, sir. I didn't have sex with a Porn Star, number one. [02:18] Number two, that was a case that was started and moved. [02:22] And, by the way, I told you before, [02:24] I'm happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. Think you can do it? [02:29] That's the biggest lie. He's a six handicap of all. [02:32] I was eight handicap. Yeah. [02:34] Eight You know how many I've seen you swing. [02:38] I know you swing. Let's's act like children. [02:41] President Trump we're going to. Let's not act like children. [02:44] Pacific. Russia would have never attacked In preside. [02:48] The question was, will you accept the results of the election, [02:51] regardless of who wins? [02:53] Yes or no, please. If it's a fair and legal and good election, absolutely. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6978328/joe-biden-donald-trump-agree-debates-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6978328/joe-biden-donald-trump-agree-debates-election/"},"headline":"Biden and Trump Agree to Debate Twice Before November Election. 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