'Make my day pal': Biden challenges Trump to two debates under special conditions, Republican accepts

President Joe Biden on Wednesday challenged former Donald Trump to two head-to-head debates before the November election, with several special conditions.

"Make my day pal," Biden said in a video calling out the presumptive Republican nominee to debate him twice, once as early as next month, the other in September before early voting begins.

Both proposed showdowns would be held without the involvement of the non-partisan commission that typically organizes presidential debates.

Trump quickly fired back and accepted the challenge from the Democratic incumbent in a post on his Truth Social account.

"Just tell me when, I'll be there," wrote Trump. " 'Let's get ready to rumble!!!"

"I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September," he added.

Shortly after Trump's response, Biden said he had accepted an invitation from CNN for a debate on June 27.

"Over to you, Donald. As you said: anywhere, any time, any place," the president wrote in an X post.

To ensure the appearance of fairness, the Biden campaign said that it wanted the debates with just the two candidates and a moderator, and no in-studio audience.

Biden's campaign also wants them to be held by news organizations that hosted a 2016 Republican primary debate which Trump participated in, and a 2020 Democratic primary debate which Biden participated in.

The Biden campaign on Wednesday sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates saying it will not participate in the organization's traditional debates, which were scheduled to take place on Sept. 16, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9.

"The years-long Presidential Commission model for these debates is out of step with changes in the structure of our elections and the interests of voters," Biden campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon wrote in that letter to the group, which has hosted debates since 1988.

The campaign took issue with the commission scheduling debates after early voting had already begun and treating the debates as more of an entertainment program, O'Malley Dillon wrote. She also said the commission consistently failed to enforce debate rules, leading to "noisy spectacles of approval or jeering."

During the 2020 debates, Biden and Trump regularly broke out into shouting matches as they each tried to get a word in edgewise.

This time around, Biden's campaign proposed, each candidate should have firm time limits to answer questions and when a candidate is not speaking, his microphone should be turned off.

Biden proposes debating Trump first as soon as late June, when the campaign expects Trump's New York hush money trial to be over and Biden will be back from the G7 Summit.

Biden's campaign also suggested that the vice presidential debate take place the last half of July, after the Republican National Convention when the party officially nominates its presidential candidate.

The second presidential debate would take place in September, after the Democratic National Convention in August.

The debates would exclude any other candidate for the White House, including Robert Kennedy Jr., "not squandering debate time on candidates with no prospect of becoming President," O'Malley Dillon wrote.

Biden's debate proposal comes after a recent New York Times poll found the incumbent lagging behind his Republican challenger in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, less than six months out from what many suggest will be a near-dead heat election.

Given Biden's popularity issues, the parameters for debate could help ensure that the candidates compete on policy issues rather than for the applause of a raucous crowd.

In Biden's Wednesday video, posted on the social media site X, the president said, "Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn't shown up for a 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," Biden said.

"I hear you're free on Wednesdays," the president cracked, referring to the day when court is not in session for Trump's ongoing trial.

Trump in his Truth Social post wrote: "Crooked Joe Biden is the WORST debater I have ever faced - He can't put two sentences together! Crooked is also the WORST President in the history of the United States, by far."

Trump added, "It's time for a debate so that he can explain to the American People his highly destructive Open Border Policy, new and ridiculous EV Mandates, the allowance of Crushing Inflation, High Taxes, and his really WEAK Foreign Policy, which is allowing the World to 'Catch on Fire.' I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September."

"I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds - That's only because he doesn't get them," Trump wrote.