Joe Biden and Donald Trump have agreed to participate in two televised presidential debates in June and September.

CNN announced the 27 June event on Wednesday, and said it would take place in the key swing state of Georgia.

A second debate on 10 September will be hosted by ABC.

The announcement came shortly after President Biden laid out his terms for facing his predecessor in a live forum ahead of November’s election.

CNN said there will be no audience at June’s debate in Atlanta, which will be moderated by hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. It will take place unusually early in an election year.

ABC has yet to announce more details on its forum.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is running as an independent, first slammed the debates, saying the two major candidates had colluded to exclude him.

But then on Wednesday evening he said he had qualified for the CNN debate, although he offered no clues in his post on X, formerly Twitter, to how he might have met the debate’s requirements.

Mr Trump, a Republican, said on his social media platform Truth Social, external that he had also accepted an invitation from Fox News for a third debate on 2 October. However, Mr Biden’s campaign chairwoman, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said the president had “made his terms clear for two one-on-one debates, and Donald Trump accepted those terms”.

Mr Biden, a Democrat, proposed two televised debates in June and September. His rival quickly accepted, before suggesting they debate every month.

“We believe there should be more than just two opportunities for the American people to hear more from the candidates themselves,” the Trump campaign said.

Both candidates have traded barbs on social media, with Mr Trump stating: “Just tell me when. Let’s get ready to rumble!!!”

Mr Biden said Mr Trump was “free on Wednesdays” – a reference to his criminal trial in New York, while Mr Trump claimed his rival was the “worst debater” who “can’t put two sentences together”.

Mr Biden’s proposal of two debates breaks several established traditions.

It bypasses the presidential debate commission, which since 1988 has scheduled timings and had already set dates and locations for three debates in the autumn.

Mr Biden’s team wants the two televised debates to be conducted with no live audience – another break with tradition.

Candidates would take turns answering questions from an agreed-upon moderator from a major news network, and the non-speaking candidate’s microphone would be deactivated.

Ms Dillon said raucous partisan crowds were not “conducive to good debates”.

The first 2020 forum between the two candidates was marred by frequent interruptions and cross-talk. The second was cancelled when Mr Trump caught Covid and refused to take part by video link.

CNN’s rules state that participants “must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold”, and receive at least 15% support in four separate recognised polls. A candidate needs to receive at least 270 electoral votes to win the presidential election.

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s campaign says he is now officially on the ballot in six states and he has collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in eight more. All those states combined bring him closer to the electoral threshold, but only to 185.

His latest polling figures also appear to be below the CNN guidelines, even though he is polling better than any third-party candidate since Ross Perot in 1996.

CNN has not yet commented on his claims of qualifying.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Kennedy accused, external his opponents of trying to freeze him out “because they are afraid I would win”.

Mr Biden laughed when a reporter asked him on Wednesday if he wished to debate the independent candidate.

By moving the debates earlier in the presidential campaign calendar, Mr Biden’s proposal could also lower any impact the TV clashes have on the outcome of the November presidential election, giving both candidates more time to recover from a poor performance.

Some past incumbent presidents – including Mr Trump, Barack Obama, George HW Bush and Ronald Reagan – have had shaky showings in their first general election debate before regaining their footing in subsequent meetings.

A June debate would take place before both the Republican and Democratic national conventions, while the September debate would be at least a month before election day. Surveys indicate many Americans do not begin paying attention to US presidential campaign news until the autumn.

Mr Biden also proposed a July vice-presidential debate that would take place after Mr Trump’s running-mate was nominated at the Republican convention in the summer.

The election-year presidential debates are typically broadcast on multiple US networks. At least 73 million Americans watched the first 2020 debate between Mr Trump and Mr Biden.

Mr Trump declined to participate in any Republican primary debates during this campaign, a point noted by Mr Biden in the video his campaign released announcing the debate proposal.

Mr Biden had minimal opposition in his bid for nomination this year, and the Democratic Party held no primary debates.