Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that he will have a special request for President Joe Biden before the two candidates meet on stage next month for the first of two scheduled debates.
Trump spoke to a crowd of supporters at a Republican fundraiser in St. Paul, Minnesota, Friday night and discussed his upcoming debate with Biden after the two candidates agreed to face off on June 27 and September 10.
“I just want to debate this guy … and I’m going to demand a drug test too, by the way,” Trump said to the applause of the crowd. “I am. No, I really am.”
“I don’t want him coming in like the State of the Union. He was high as a kite,” the presumptive Republican nominee added. “I said is that Joe up there? … And by the end of the evening … he was exhausted, right? No, we’re going to demand a drug test.”
Trump in Minnesota in rare form.
I want to debate this guy but I’m going to demand a drug test.pic.twitter.com/4pmoZurVqF
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 18, 2024
Biden’s frequent slip-ups and sometimes angry demeanor during speeches and press conferences have been a target of criticism for Trump. Last month, Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that he would request the president be drug tested before future debates.
“I think what happened is that white stuff that they happened to find, which happened to be cocaine in the White House, I don’t know, I think something’s going on there, because I watched this State of the Union, and he was all jacked up at the beginning,” Trump said. “By the end, he was fading fast. There’s something going on there. I want to debate. And I think debates, with him, at least, should be drug tested. I want a drug test.”
Earlier this week, Biden challenged Trump to two debates, and Trump quickly accepted. During a 14-second video that required five jump cuts, 81-year-old Biden told Trump, “make my day, pal,” adding, “So let’s pick the dates, Donald. I hear you’re free on Wednesdays.”
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. pic.twitter.com/AkPmvs2q4u
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 15, 2024
Less than an hour after Biden challenged Trump to two debates, the Republican candidate accepted, writing, “I am Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September.”
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“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 added. “Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!’”
Biden’s team included a list of stipulations in its debate challenge, including no live audience and a one-on-one format with Trump, excluding any third-party candidates such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. CNN announced on Wednesday that it would hold the first presidential debate on June 27, agreeing to Biden’s request for no live audience but leaving the door open for Kennedy to potentially qualify to make the stage.
CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are set to moderate the debate, which will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, at 9:00 p.m. ET.
