Trump (left) wants to hold an immediate debate with current President Joe Biden (agencies)
Former US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he wants to hold an immediate debate with current President Joe Biden, despite his refusal to hold a debate with any of his competitors for the Republican Party nomination to run in the upcoming presidential elections.
“I would like to debate him now because we have to debate for the good of the country,” Trump said on a radio show.
For his part, Biden, who belongs to the Democratic Party, said when reporters asked him about Trump's invitation to hold a debate: "If I were in his place, I would want to debate me too. He has nothing to do."
Trump is the most likely candidate in the Republican Party race to challenge Biden in the November 5 elections, but he has not yet decided on the nomination, and he rejected the request of his Republican rival, Nikki Haley, to debate her.
In response to Trump's comments, Haley's campaign said in a statement: "He is too cowardly" to debate her.
Focus on Biden
Trump's comments reflect a desire to focus on potential electoral competition with Biden, who won the Democratic primary in South Carolina last Saturday and is expected to win his party's nomination.
Haley, the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador under Trump, is ranked a distant second behind Trump in opinion polls, but has pledged to continue challenging him for the Republican nomination.
Trump and Biden held two debates during the 2020 election race, and a third debate was canceled after Trump was confirmed infected with Covid-19 and refused to participate in a virtual debate remotely.
US presidential elections usually witness 3 debates each time.
The former US president faces voters, while he is being tried in 4 criminal cases ranging from obtaining top-secret documents to trying to overturn the results of the previous elections, during which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Source: Reuters