President Joe Biden on Wednesday morning stunned the political world when he announced he would not participate in debates sponsored by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, instead challenging his rival, former President Donald Trump, to two debates earlier in the year.

"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," Biden said in a post on social media seemingly aimed at needling his once and future electoral opponent, adding a reference to his ongoing New York hush money criminal trial: "I hear you're free on Wednesdays."

Trump, who skipped all of the debates in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, responded on his Truth Social platform that he is “Ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September.”

Shortly after the back-and-forth between the current leader of the free world and his predecessor, CNN announced it would be holding the first debate on June 27 at its Atlanta studios. Trump and Biden both said later Wednesday they accepted an invitation to a debate in September hosted by ABC News.

Biden's campaign proposed that the first debate between the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees be held in late June and the second in September before early voting begins.

Trump, who pulled out of one of the debates against Biden in 2020, said that he strongly recommends more than two debates and “for excitement purposes, a very large venue."

"It’s time for a debate so that he can explain to the American People his highly destructive Open Border Policy, new and ridiculous EV Mandates, the allowance of Crushing Inflation, High Taxes, and his really WEAK Foreign Policy, which is allowing the World to ‘Catch on Fire,'" he wrote on social media.

The president later Wednesday said that he "accepted an invitation" from CNN for a debate on June 27, adding: "Over to you, Donald. As you said: anywhere, any time, any place."

CNN later released details about the debate, which will take place on June 27 in Georgia. The debate will be held at the network's studio in Atlanta, CNN said in a release. The network later added that anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate the debate.

To qualify, the network said, candidates must appear on enough ballots to win 270 electoral votes and receive at least 15% in four separate national polls that meet CNN's standards -- seemingly shunning third-party candidates, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is sitting at around 10% in a polling average from aggregator FiveThirtyEight. 

Kennedy accused the two leading candidates of "trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win," contending in a social media post that "[k]eeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy."

"By excluding me from the stage, Presidents Biden and Trump seek to avoid discussion of their eight years of mutual failure," he wrote.

Surrogates for both candidates have stepped up their attacks against Kennedy in recent weeks, with Trump himself calling the Democratic-turned-independent candidate a "Democrat ‘Plant’” who is running to help Biden."

Biden and Trump both said separately later Wednesday that they accepted an invitation from ABC News for a debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10.

"Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation. I’ll bring my plane, too. I plan on keeping it for another four years," Biden wrote on social media.

ABC News said in a release that the debate will air on ABC, Hulu and its streaming platform ABC News Live, and will "make the debate available to simulcast on additional broadcast and streaming news networks in America." The network's qualifications for the debate mirrored those of CNN.

Biden campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon on Wednesday sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates to say that Biden would not participate in its announced debates, choosing instead to participate in debates hosted by news organizations. The Biden campaign objected to the fall dates selected by the commission — which come after some Americans begin to vote — repeating a complaint also raised by the Trump campaign.

Biden's campaign has long-held a grudge against the nonpartisan commission for failing to evenly apply its rules during the 2020 Biden-Trump matchups — most notably when it didn't enforce its COVID-19 testing rules on Trump and his entourage — and Biden's team has held talks with television networks and some Republicans about ways to circumvent the commission's grip on presidential debates.

The president first indicated he would be willing to debate Trump during an interview with radio host Howard Stern last month, telling him that "I am, somewhere. I don't know when. But I'm happy to debate him."

Biden indicated again last week that he was preparing to debate, telling reporters as he was leaving a White House event: "Set it up."

Trump has repeatedly dared Biden to debate him, keeping a second podium open at rallies and claiming that his rival would not be up for the task.

Trump, too, has taken issue with the debate commission, but he and his team have maintained that they don't care who hosts the debates as long as they happen.

The Trump campaign issued a statement on May 1 that objected to the scheduled debates by the Commission on Presidential Debates, saying that the schedule "begins AFTER early voting" and that "this is unacceptable" because voters deserve to hear from the candidates before ballots are cast.

In a statement to Spectrum News, the Commission on Presidential Debates pushed back on the assertion that their debate calendar does not cater to early voters.

"The American public deserves substantive debates from the leading candidates for president and vice president," the group said in a statement. "The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was established in 1987 specifically to ensure that such debates reliably take place and reach the widest television, radio and streaming audience. Our 2024 sites, all locations of higher learning, are prepared to host debates on dates chosen to accommodate early voters. We will continue to be ready to execute this plan."

Trump said at a Pennsylvania rally before his hush money trial began that the debates were needed.

"We have to debate because our country is going in the wrong direction so badly," Trump said with the empty podium next to him. "We have to explain to the American people what the hell is going on."

Trump's campaign, in a memo to Biden's reelection campaign, proposed more debates, as well as one between Vice President Kamala Harris and the ex-president's as-of-yet unannounced running mate.

"We believe there should be more than just two opportunities for the American people to hear more from the candidates themselves," Trump's campaign memo reads, later calling for "one debate per month."

"Therefore, we propose a debate in June, a debate in July, a debate in August, and a debate in September, in addition to the Vice Presidential debate," they wrote. "Additional dates will allow voters to have maximum exposure to the records and future visions of each candidate."

Trump himself wrote in a social media post that he "accepts" a debate on Fox News on Oct. 2, moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. 

But the Biden campaign said no dice.

"Donald Trump has a long history of playing games with debates: complaining about the rules, breaking those rules, pulling out at the last minute, or not showing up at all – which he’s done repeatedly in all three cycles he’s run for president," said Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden-Harris 2024 Chair, in a statement. "He said he would debate President Biden anytime, anywhere, anyplace. In fact, he’s said and posted it dozens of times with varying degrees of comprehension and basic grammar."

"President Biden made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms," she continued. "No more games. No more chaos, no more debate about debates. We’ll see Donald Trump on June 27th in Atlanta – if he shows up."

Biden reelection campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz echoed O’Malley Dillon's sentiments in an interview with Spectrum News on Wednesday.

"This morning, we made clear what we wanted," Munoz said. "We wanted two debates, we wanted to make sure it was fair and not focused on theater, but the actual policy issues here, and he agreed to them. But what Donald Trump is continuing to do, he's playing games with the American people because he does not want to talk about the issues ... enough with the games."

Munoz also dismissed the possibility of a third-party candidate, like Kennedy, joining a future debate.

"We were very clear this morning: This debate needs to be between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the two candidates in this race that have a pathway to 270 electoral votes," Munoz said. "The American people have got to know what is at stake when it comes to Donald Trump, we've got to talk about what it means for abortion rights, for the economy, for lowering costs. All of these issues, and only Donald Trump and Joe Biden can get that pathway to the White House."

Trump campaign senior advisor Danielle Alvarez said it was unsurprising that the Biden campaign was not accepting more debates, charging in an interview with Spectrum News on Wednesday that the incumbent president's reelection effort was "caught completely off guard" and "completely flat-footed" -- despite the fact it was Biden who initially said he was willing to debate Trump on Howard Stern's radio show last month, and was the first to issue the debate challenge on Wednesday morning.

Alvarez called on Biden to allow more face-offs, saying "there is plenty of subject matter to discuss in these debates."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.