President Joe Biden says he’s ‘happy to debate’ Donald Trump during interview with Howard Stern
NEW YORK — President Joe Biden said Friday he is prepared to debate his presumptive Republican opponent, Donald Trump, later this fall — his most definitive comment yet on the issue.
The comment came during an interview with Sirius XM radio host Howard Stern, who asked Biden if he would participate in debates against Trump.
‘I’m somewhere. I don’t know when,” Biden said. “But I’m happy to debate with him.”
Until now, Biden’s reelection campaign had declined to participate in the debates, a hallmark of every presidential election campaign since 1976.
The president himself had also been vague, saying in March that whether he would debate Trump “depends on his behavior.”
Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, quickly responded to Biden’s comments on the social media site The Trump campaign had said the former president is “willing to debate anytime, anywhere, anytime,” even though Trump has not participated in any of the Republican primaries this cycle.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced the dates and locations for the three general election debates between the presidential candidates: September 16 in San Marcos, Texas; October 1 in Petersburg, Virginia; and Oct. 9 in Salt Lake City. The only vice presidential debate will take place on September 25 in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Biden engages in relatively less press interviews than his predecessors, and his aides tend to choose channels and media outlets outside the traditional press corps that cover the president in Washington. His interview with Stern on Friday, which lasted well over an hour, had a conversational and introspective tone and covered topics that included Biden’s upbringing, family and his favorite president (Thomas Jefferson, Biden said).
Aside from the ‘shock jock’ of old, Stern still has a loyal audience. And he is known for his conversational skills. He can turn conversations with celebrities into revealing discussions, often by asking things that others might fear, but not in a confrontational way.
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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim and David Bauder contributed to this report. Kim reported from Washington.