Trump offers to debate Biden ‘ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE’ ahead of State of the Union

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Donald Trump has vowed to conduct a “rapid response” fact check to all statements made by president Joe Biden during his State of the Union address.

The former president said it was “important for the country to get the truth” and later offered to debate Mr Biden “anytime, anywhere, anyplace”.

The annual State of the Union address will take place on Thursday evening, during which the president will seek to lay out the case for his re-election and address a range of pressing issues both domestic and international.

Mr Biden is also expected to tout his achievements in the White House, allay concerns about his age and warn of the threat to democracy posed by Mr Trump – his now all-but-certain rival for the Oval Office in November – and hard-right Republicans across the country.

As usual, Mr Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social to post the angry messages on Wednesday evening, where he promised a “play by play” correction of the address.

“I am pleased to inform you that tomorrow night we will be doing a LIVE, Play by Play, of Crooked Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address. I will correct, in rapid response, any and all inaccurate Statements, especially pertaining to the Border and his Weaponization of the DOJ, FBI, A.G.s, and District Attorneys, to go after his Political Opponent, ME (something never done before in this Country!),” the post read.

“We did this once before to tremendous success – Beating All Records. It is important for the Country to get the TRUTH!”

He later added in a separate post: “It is important, for the Good of our Country, that Joe Biden and I Debate Issues that are so vital to America, and the American People.

“Therefore, I am calling for Debates, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE! The Debates can be run by the Corrupt DNC, or their Subsidiary, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). I look forward to receiving a response. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

A rematch between the two men is now all-but inevitable, following their respective successes on Super Tuesday. Mr Trump’s only significant GOP rival, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, official dropped out of the race on Wednesday.

Mr Trump’s insistence on debating with his old foe, comes after he consistently refused to appear onstage next to his Republican challengers during this election cycle. Instead the former president held several parrallel events, including rallies and a sit-down interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, much to the chargrin of the other presidential hopefuls.

In the run up to the 2020 presidential election, three debates were initially planned and scheduled. The first debate took place on 29 September 2020.

The next was scheduled to take place on 15 October but was later canceled due to Mr Trump testing positive for Covid-19 and thereafter refusing to appear remotely rather than in person. The final debate took place on 22 October.

Mr Biden was seen to have “won” the first debate, despite the chaotic arguing between the pair. The event was described after as “a hot mess, inside a train wreck, inside a dumpster fire” by CNN’s Jake Tapper, and a “shitshow” by his colleague Dana Bash.

During the first debate Mr Trump was also criticised for his remarks concerning far-right group The Proud Boys, who he told to “stand back and stand by”. The comment was interpreted by some members of the group, as well as others, as a call to arms and was later described as a “mistake” by commentators.