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| EFE |
Former U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his call on Tuesday for an immediate debate with the current president, Joe Biden.
"I believe we have an obligation. When you have the last Republican, the last Democrat, the two people, you have to debate regardless of the polls," said Trump during an interview on Fox News, four days before the South Carolina primaries.
The former president acknowledged that he did not debate other Republican candidates due to the lead he had in the polls. However, regarding Biden, he committed to debating "as many times as necessary" before the November presidential elections.
According to the Commission on Presidential Debates, a non-partisan body, three debates are scheduled for 2024 between September 16 and October 9, although neither party has committed to participating at the moment.
Earlier this month, Trump already called for an immediate debate with Biden, but the president dismissed the idea with a quip. "If I were him, I'd want to debate me too. He's got nothing else to do," said the president to the press shortly after.
So far, Trump leads the Republican primaries and has gathered 63 delegates from Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
His only opponent, Nikki Haley, ruled out withdrawing from the race regardless of the results in South Carolina, where she served as governor.
After the primaries in that state, the Republican contest heads to the significant Super Tuesday on March 5, where about 15 states, including California and Texas, the largest in the country, are set to vote.
After Super Tuesday, nearly half of the delegates that will nominate the presidential candidate at the Republican National Convention in July will have been distributed. If Trump continues to dominate, he could effectively secure the primaries by that date.