Republican candidate Donald Trump is set to debate US President Joe Biden on CNN, despite acknowledging that it will be a hostile environment. His campaign spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, made the statement after being cut off by the network for “disrespecting” the moderator. The terms set by Biden’s campaign dictate that CNN will host the first confrontation between the two candidates before the Republicans and the Democrats formally confirm their nominations for a rematch of the 2020 election.
In an interview with Fox News Digital on Monday, Leavitt expressed her concerns about fair treatment for Trump in the upcoming debate, saying that CNN cutting off her microphone for discussing the debate moderator’s history of anti-Trump lies only served to prove their point that President Trump would not be treated fairly. Nonetheless, she reiterated Trump’s commitment to participate in the debate and convey his winning message to the American people.
When challenged by Biden to a debate “any time, anywhere, any place,” the incumbent Democrat’s campaign proposed two clashes, hosted by CNN and ABC respectively. During an interview with CNN on Monday morning, Leavitt stated that Trump would knowingly be entering a hostile environment, citing moderator Jake Tapper’s past comments about the 45th president.
The host of the interview, Kasie Hunt, interrupted Leavitt by stating that her colleagues had displayed professionalism while covering campaigns and interviewing candidates from various political backgrounds, adding that if a candidate attacks the moderators, it usually suggests they are losing. She then stopped the interview.
Notably, when Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, Tapper infamously declared that “for tens of millions of our fellow Americans: their long national nightmare is over.” In December 2021, Tapper claimed Trump “did try to kill democracy once, and he’s going to try to do it again,” and in 2023 compared Trump to Hitler over his comments about immigration.
Speaking on Logan Paul’s podcast earlier this month, Trump acknowledged that the moderators had only a 10% chance of being fair to him. He agreed to CNN hosting the debate because he believed that Biden’s team thought he would not. They thought that I wouldn’t do it because it’s CNN, but I’ve done plenty of CNN,” Trump told Paul. But I think they’ll be fair. I think they’re gonna try to be fair. As fair as they can be.
The new arrangement between Trump and Biden has completely sidelined the Commission for Presidential Debates, which had traditionally organized the televised contest. Both candidates criticized the commission’s performance during the 2020 election.