CNN to Host Trump-Biden Debate on June 27

CNN will host the first debate between President Biden and former President Trump on June 27.

The debate will air live at 9pm ET from CNN’s Atlanta studios, with anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash set to moderate. No audience will be present to “ensure candidates may maximize the time allotted in the debate,” according to CNN. The debate is set to air live on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Max and CNN.com.

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Following that announcement, Biden wrote on X that he had also accepted an invitation to a debate on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC. The primetime debate will air on ABC, streaming network ABC News Live, and Hulu and will be available to simulcast on additional broadcast and streaming news networks in the U.S. A moderator has not yet been announced for the debate.

Speaking at the Warner Bros. Discovery upfront Wednesday, Mark Thompson chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said he had reached out to both candidates this morning.

“Earlier this morning I wrote to President Biden and former President Donald Trump inviting both of them to take part in a presidential debate to be broadcast and streamed on CNN from Atlanta on the 27th of June. And while this upfront has been taking place, we’ve received word from both candidates that they’ve accepted the invitation,” Mark Thompson chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide.

“When people have something important to say, they say it on CNN,” he added.

The news follows some campaigning between the two parties. On Wednesday, Biden released a video in which he reiterated that he would debate Trump two times, while nodding to the former president’s ongoing criminal trial.

“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020 and since then he hasn’t shown up for debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day pal. I’ll even do it twice. So let’s pick the dates, Donald. I hear you’re free on Wednesdays,” Biden said in the video posted on X.

Biden had previously informed the Commission on Presidential Debates that the president would not participate in its previously scheduled fall debates, and proposed instead two debates hosted by news organizations.

Alex Weprin contributed to this report.

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