President Joe Biden's reelection campaign wouldn't say Tuesday whether he would participate in a general election debate with former President Donald Trump if he becomes the Republican Party's presidential nominee.
Trump won't be participating in Wednesday's Republican National Committee primary debate, prompting criticism from some on the Right who suggest it gives Biden an excuse not to debate him.
TRUMP DEBATE DECISION: GOP FRONTRUNNER CONFIRMS HE WILL NOT TURN UP FOR SHOWCASE EVENT
Asked if Biden would debate Trump before a general election if he is the GOP nominee, Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler said on a press call, "We haven't had any real substantive conversations about that quite yet."
Earlier this week, Trump announced on Truth Social that he would not debate on Wednesday. The prospect of the former president attending the event was unlikely to begin with, something that had been expressed by both the campaign and Trump himself.
According to his post, "New CBS POLL, just out, has me leading the field by 'legendary' numbers. TRUMP 62%, 46 Points above DeSanctimonious (who is crashing like an ailing bird!), Ramaswamy 7%, Pence 5%, Scott 3%, Haley 2%, Sloppy Chris Christie 2%, 'Aida' Hutchinson 1%. The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had, with Energy Independence, Strong Borders & Military, Biggest EVER Tax & Regulation Cuts, No Inflation, Strongest Economy in History, & much more. I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!"
Trump had reportedly been considering showing up to the debate in the days leading up to it. Ultimately, though, he opted not to. Instead, Trump is expected to be interviewed by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Following Trump's decision, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was among his critics. According to McEnany, who now works for Fox News, the network broadcasting the debate, this choice is a "political miscalculation."
She also claimed, "You are giving Joe Biden a card to say, 'I'm going to use the Trump debate standard and not show up because I'm so ahead in my internal polls. I'm just not coming,' so you're giving a card to your opponent that he could pull if he tried."
It remains to be seen whether Biden would cite Trump's primary debate absence if he decided not to debate him before the general in the case that Trump is the GOP nominee.
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Biden's campaign did have thoughts on Trump's absence from the primary debate, however. "I think it's no surprise that he chose to skip the Wisconsin debate when you just had another announcement by Foxconn that they're packing up and leaving both Green Bay and I believe it was Eau Claire, where they're shuttering another office space," Tyler said, referring to a drastically scaled-back Trump-era manufacturing deal.
"It's ground zero for his failed record on the economy and his broken promises to American workers," he added.