Biden team concerned about 'risk' of letting him debate Trump, Politico columnist argues

President Biden's team worries that debate with former President Trump would "risk exposing" the chief executive on national TV, Politico politics bureau chief Jonathan Martin said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.

During a Friday interview with Howard Stern, Biden said he would be "happy to debate" Trump. The former president answered the challenge, saying he would be willing to debate that very night.

"I’m curious what Jen Psaki’s reaction would have been like, if she was still in the White House, when she heard President Biden blurt out during a live interview that he was gonna debate," said Martin, who also serves as Politico's senior political columnist. "Because Biden folks don’t want him to debate. They don’t want to give Trump that platform and risk exposing Biden like that on national TV."

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Psaki, Biden's former press secretary who was also on the "Meet the Press" panel, didn't contradict him, but suggested that rejecting an offer to debate would be hazardous for the president's image as well.

"I was thinking, if I was in my old job from two years ago, you also don’t want him to say ‘no,’ because ‘no’ is weak, and ‘no’ is fear, so you have to say ‘yes,’" she said. "They both have to say ‘yes.’ Now, whether this happens, we all know there’s lots of things that need to be negotiated."

Martin said that if Biden does debate Trump, "I think it will be a tell for us this summer that Biden has got ground to make up still."

"Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker said the war in Gaza would undoubtedly be a key issue in a debate between Biden and Trump.

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"One of the issues that they will