North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) took aim at President Biden on Sunday, saying he is “eager” to see his performance in the upcoming debate.
In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Burgum said Biden’s team has made an effort “to lower expectations” for his debate with former President Trump on Thursday. Burgum suggested two versions of Biden could appear in the debate as he discussed the president’s meeting with 40 governors across the country.
“America kind of looks at the state of the state, he stood up and spoke passionately for over an hour. And so when we had a group of governors with him in February, we were limited to two questions. governor and a Democrat… Forty governors, we had two questions for the president. Questions had to be submitted two days in advance,” he said.
“This is a far cry from being in a debate for 90 minutes. So I think we’re all excited to see which Joe Biden will show up,” he added.
Biden and Trump will face off in the first presidential debate of 2024 this week, which will be hosted by CNN and moderated by Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. Despite targeting Biden, Burgum acknowledged that he has a lot of debate and campaign experience.
“The guy has run for office over a dozen times. He’s run for president four times. He’s been campaigning since President Nixon took office. This guy has the ability. We’ve seen it. We saw him in the debate in four years ago. We saw him at the State of the Union this year, that when he needed to, he could step up,” Burgum said.
“But I think this is a real opportunity for CNN, the most trusted name in news, to ask some tough questions,” he added.
Biden has been meeting with aides at Camp David to prepare for this week’s debate, while Trump has been meeting with lawmakers to discuss what policies might emerge. Biden has taken a more formal approach to debate preparation and is practicing using mock debates, while Trump has decided to opt out.
The Hill has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
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