Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Joe Biden and Donald Trump will face off in two debates ahead of November’s election after the president threw down the gauntlet to his challenger in a video on Wednesday morning, declaring: “Make my day, pal.”
The former president quickly accepted the challenge, posting: “Let’s get ready to rumble.”
Both candidates have agreed the first debate will be on CNN on 27 June in Atlanta, Georgia, and the second on ABC on 10 September.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s New York hush money trial saw the cross-examination of the defendant’s estranged former “fixer” Michael Cohen commence on Tuesday, with Cohen challenged on his evolving attitudes toward his ex-boss, colourful insults and the idea that he has profited from an “obsession” with Mr Trump since 2018.
Cohen has remained calm and steadfast during his testimony in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom, walking the jury through the “delay, delay, delay” strategy when it came to making the $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Mr Trump.
The former president denies the affair and the 34 felony counts brought against him by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who accuses him of falsifying business records to hide the payout.
The cross-examination of Cohen will continue on Thursday as the prosecution prepares to rest its case.
Alex Woodward and Kelly Rissman are covering the trial from Manhattan Criminal Court.
House Republicans push for Trump to receive Congressional Gold Medal over ‘exceptional leadership’
I realise that shame is an unfashionable concept these days but maybe it’s time we brought it back.
Amelia Neath reports on Florida congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna and her friends’ efforts to remind Trump that he’s the GOP’s Special Little Guy.
BREAKING: Biden and Trump accept ABC invitation to debate on September 10th
Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have accepted an invitation from ABC to a second presidential debate on 10 September 2024.
Recap – ‘I hear you’re free on Wednesdays’: Biden trolls Trump as he challenges him to debate face-off
Andrew Feinberg reports:
President Joe Biden trolled Donald Trump about his ongoing criminal hush money trial as he dared his political arch rival to go head-to-head with him in a series of presidential debates.
“I hear you’re free on Wednesdays,” the president roasted Mr Trump – a direct reference to the weekly day off from the trial in Manhattan criminal court.
After a rapid back-and-forth between the president and former president, the two men agreed to face off on stage for the first time since 2020 on 27 June.
Continue reading…
Trump thinks it’s a ‘very good idea’ to release list of national security team
Donald Trump was asked by Hugh Hewitt this morning whether he will release a list of his national security team, Jill Covin of the AP reports.
His answer didn’t sound like it was something he’d given a lot of thought to…
“The answer is yes. I think it’s a great idea… it’s a very good idea,” he responded.
He added that he “will be putting out a Supreme Court list” again, too.
Given the ages of the current Supreme Court justices, the next president will almost certainly have the opportunity to appoint one, if not more, judges to the nation’s highest court.
Prosecutors ask judge to order Steve Bannon to report to prison
Federal prosecutors have asked the judge overseeing Trump ally Steve Bannon’s prison term to reverse a stay on his sentence now that an appeals court has upheld his contempt of Congress conviction.
Here’s more from Michelle Del Rey and Katie Hawkinson.
Full details of Biden v Trump CNN presidential debate on June 27
CNN will host an election debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald J. Trump on June 27, 2024 at 9pm ET from the crucial battleground state of Georgia.
The debate will be held in CNN’s Atlanta studios. To ensure candidates may maximize the time allotted in the debate, no audience will be present. Moderators for the debate and additional details will be announced at a later date.
To qualify for participation, candidates must fulfil the requirements outlined in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States; file a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission; a candidate’s name must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency prior to the eligibility deadline; agree to accept the rules and format of the debate; and receive at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting.
Polls that meet CNN editorial standards and will be considered qualifying polls include those sponsored by: CNN, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, Marquette University Law School, Monmouth University, NBC News, the New York Times/Siena College, NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist College, Quinnipiac University, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
The polling window to determine eligibility for the debate opened March 13, 2024, and closes seven days before the date of the debate.
Watch: Robert De Niro goes off on potential Trump victory in 2024
Watch: Biden fires back at Trump’s suggestion that ‘China is eating our lunch’
Here’s the president hitting back at his rival as he unveiled steep tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports yesterday, targeting electric vehicle batteries, computer chips and medical products.
Watch: Biden fires back at Trump suggestion that ‘China is eating our lunch’
Joe Biden fired back at Donald Trump’s suggestion that “China is eating our lunch” as he unveiled steep tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports on Tuesday 14 May. The US president has targeted electric vehicle batteries, computer chips and medical products, risking an election-year standoff with Beijing in a bid to woo voters who give his economic policies low marks. After making a speech at the White House, Mr Biden was challenged on comments from his Republican predecessor. “Trump said today that China is eating our lunch, what do you say in response?” a reporter asked. Mr Biden fired back: “He’s been feeding them a long time.”
Trump-Biden debate news follows weeks of backchannel conversations between campaigns, report says
The public announcement follows private back-channel discussions about possible meetings. The officials with the Biden and Trump campaigns have privately had informal conversations on debates in recent weeks, focused on meetings that would not involve the commission, according to two people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private events.
The Biden proposal will be the subject of extensive negotiations between the two camps over the coming weeks, with Biden advisers now expecting proposals to come in from networks. Biden’s team has requested that only broadcast networks that hosted Republican primary debates in 2016 and Democratic primary debates in 2020 be eligible to host the first debate. Only four networks — CNN, ABC News, Telemundo and CBS News — hosted debates for both parties during those cycles.
Biden proposed that the moderator should be selected by the broadcast host from its “regular personnel,” with firm time limits for answers, equal speaking time, alternative turns to speak and microphones that are active only during each candidate’s turn. The first debate would take place after the June 15 conclusion of the Group of Seven summit in Italy and the conclusion of Trump’s criminal trial in New York. The September debate would take place before the start of early voting.
Source: independent.co.uk
