Joe Biden and Donald Trump finally agreed to meet in two presidential debates that will take place on June 27 and September 10.

However, the agreement was not easy since the Democratic president's campaign imposed several unavoidable restrictions to agree to debate with his Republican rival.

An exclusive debate for Trump and Biden

One of the big restrictions of the Biden campaign was to request the exclusion of independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or another even more residual presidential candidate.

In a letter sent to the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), the Biden campaign sharply criticized the organization, saying: “The debates should be one-on-one, allowing voters to compare the only two candidates with any statistical chance of prevailing in the Electoral College — and not squandering debate time on candidates with no prospect of becoming President.”

This requirement is one of the most important for the Democratic president since RFK Jr. has demonstrated in different polls that, despite remaining in third place away from Biden and Trump, he can attract many Democratic voters to his ranks, becoming a headache for the incumbent.

In a message on X, RFK Jr. accused Trump and Biden of colluding to keep him out of the debate.

“Presidents Trump and Biden are colluding to lock America into a head-to-head match-up that 70% say they do not want,” the independent candidate said. “By excluding me from the stage, Presidents Biden and Trump seek to avoid discussion of their eight years of mutual failure including deficits, wars, lockdowns, chronic disease, and inflation.”

Without a public audience

In addition to a face-to-face meeting to accept the debate, the Biden campaign also requested that there be no audience present that Trump could use to his advantage.

“The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home — not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering,” the Biden campaign said in its letter to the CPD.

For this reason, the president's campaign proposed that the debates be in a closed-door television studio where only the moderator and the two leading candidates participate.

Only progressive-leaning media?

In one of the most controversial points of the requirements, the Biden team explicitly requested that to obtain an “unbiased” scenario, the television networks hosting the debate must have organized a 2016 Republican primary debate —in which Donald Trump participated—and a 2020 Democratic primary debate —in which President Biden participated—“so neither campaign can assert that the sponsoring organization is obviously unacceptable.”

However, under these conditions, the debate could only be hosted by four television networks throughout the country: CNN, ABC, CBS or Telemundo.

According to independent organizations such as Media Bias/Fact Check, CNN, ABC and CBS are television networks on the center-left of the political spectrum.

Likewise, Telemundo has been heavily criticized by conservative news organizations for its coverage biased in favor of Democrats.

Apparently, this requirement requested by the Biden campaign is essential because former President Donald Trump said on his social media Truth that he accepted a proposal for a third debate that the conservative Fox News network would organize.

However, according to The New York Times, so far, Biden has only agreed to participate in two debates organized by ABC and CNN, respectively, because Fox News would not comply with his strict requirements.

Strict time limit

As a last requirement, the Biden campaign requested that the debate time limit be absolutely punctual, with microphones being shut off the moment the candidate's turn ends.

“There should be firm time limits for answers, and alternate turns to speak — so that the time is evenly divided and we have an exchange of views, not a spectacle of mutual interruption. A candidate’s microphone should only be active when it is his turn to speak, to promote adherence to the rules and orderly proceedings," said Biden's team, which also questioned the CPD for allowing the 2020 debate to look like an interruption contest.

However, despite all the requirements, Trump accepted Biden's conditions without excuses and said he is excited to go to Atlanta for the first debate that CNN will host.