President Joe Biden said he would be “happy” to debate former President Donald Trump ahead of the November election.
In an interview with radio host Howard Stern, the president made the statement when asked if he had plans to debate his 2024 rival. “I am, somewhere,” Biden responded, per ABC News. “I don’t know when. I’m happy to debate him.”
According to Fox News, this answer is a shift from a remark last month suggesting he would debate Trump depending on his ”behavior.”
Chris LaCivita, Trump’s campaign adviser, posted to X (formerly Twitter) in response to the interview: “Ok let’s set it up!”
The former president welcomed the idea in a post to Truth Social. “Crooked Joe Biden just announced that he’s willing to debate! Everyone knows he doesn’t really mean it, but in case he does, I say, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.”
He added in the post that Biden could debate him in Michigan — where Trump is hosting a rally — or New York City, where they both are on Friday.
Salt Lake City debate in October
Kingsley Hall at the University of Utah was announced as the location for the third and final debate, set to be held on Oct. 9, 2024, according to the Commission on Presidential Debates.
If it is held, it would be almost exactly four years after the vice presidential debate was held in Utah in 2020, between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris.
Trump has publicly called on Biden to debate him. Fox News earlier this month reported that Trump’s campaign has said they want to add additional debates to the 2024 election calendar, and that they want them to take place “much earlier” than what was initially proposed by the debate commission.
Biden and Trump debated each other twice, via broadcast, during the 2020 election, per Reuters.