News organizations press Biden and Trump to commit to debates

A dozen national news organizations are calling on the presumptive presidential nominees to commit to debates ahead of the November election.

In a joint statement Sunday, the news outlets pressed the candidates, without naming President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump, to pledge their participation in the debates scheduled by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

“Though it is too early for invitations to be extended to any candidates, it is not too early for candidates who expect to meet the eligibility criteria to publicly state their support for — and their intention to participate in — the Commission’s debates planned for this fall,” the group of news organizations, including NBC News, said in a joint statement.

Biden and Trump have both won enough delegates to secure their nominations at the party conventions.

The news outlets cited the “exceptionally high” stakes of the election, adding “there is simply no substitute for the candidates debating with each other, and before the American people, their visions for the future of our nation.”

In addition to NBC News, other signatories included ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, NewsNation, Noticias Univision, NPR, PBS NewsHour and USA Today.

The statement comes after Trump’s campaign last week called for more presidential debates, and for those contests to begin “much earlier” than the three scheduled by the commission for Sept. 16, Oct. 1 and Oct. 9.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSIt’s rarely been harder for people to find new jobs

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

The debates are slated to be held at Texas State University in San Marcos, followed by Virginia State University in Petersburg and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSIt’s rarely been harder for people to find new jobs

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

The commission has sponsored all presidential general election debates since 1988.

Biden hasn’t yet said whether he plans to debate Trump, and his aides recently told NBC News that the campaign won’t make a decision until later this year. Vice President Kamala Harris said in an NBC News interview last month that she hadn’t spoken to the president about the possibility of debating his predecessor, and at that time did not commit to a vice presidential debate.

Trump skipped all of the Republican primary debates this election cycle.

Biden and Trump debated each other in the 2020 campaign.