President Joe Biden on Monday mocked former President Donald Trump’s push to engage in a series of debates as the primary process continues to unfold, remarking that the ex-president has “nothing else to do.”
During a radio interview on “The Dan Bongino Show,” Trump, who has so far refused to participate in any of the 2024 GOP presidential primary debates, said he wanted to debate Biden “immediately” and expressed his belief that it would be “for the good of the country.”
But during a stop in Nevada ahead of the state’s primary on Tuesday, Biden pushed back at Trump’s debate request.
“Immediately? Well, if I were him, I’d want to debate me, too. He’s got nothing else to do,” Biden said.
In December, Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that he wanted to debate Biden and said he’d “look forward” to the exchanges.
“How about 10 debates?” Trump told Hewitt, weeks before the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.
The ex-president went on to win Iowa handily while also winning New Hampshire, a state that was seen as fertile ground for his remaining major GOP rival, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
Haley has long called on Trump to debate her, and on Monday the former governor’s campaign seized on the ex-president’s statements, remarking that they were “thrilled” that he has “finally acknowledged the importance of debates.”
“Now it’s time for Trump to man up and agree to debate Nikki Haley,” Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement. “Nikki is ready to put her conservative record and vision for a strong and proud America up against Trump’s campaign of chaos and vendettas.”
In 2020, Biden and Trump participated in two televised debates, while one debate was canceled due to the then-president’s COVID diagnosis. The first debate was widely seen as a chaotic affair, with Trump and then-Fox News anchor and debate moderator Chris Wallace clashing over the direction of the debate. Biden and Trump repeatedly tangled during their exchanges, with the Democrat often turning to the television to speak directly with voters.
In April 2022, the Republican National Committee voted to withdraw from presidential debates hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates, claiming that the nonprofit organization was “biased.”
During the Hewitt interview last year, Trump also blasted the commission.
“They are totally corrupt, and they’re terrible,” he said at the time. “With that being said, I would do 20 debates even if it was organized by them.”
