Bernie Sanders Accepts Donald Trump's Offer To Debate

During an appearance by Donald Trump on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, the subject of a final Democratic debate came up.

Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign wants a one more debate with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before the June 7th California primary. Clinton has declined.

So, Sanders sent a message via Kimmel to invite the Trumpster to a one-on-one debate before the California primary.

The Donald's answer? "Yes."

“If he paid a sum toward charity I would love to do that,” Trump said. “If I debated him, we would have such high ratings and I think I should take that money and give it to some worthy charity.”

Sanders immediately tweeted that he accepted the invitation, and today his campaign peeps are looking into moving ahead with trying to make it happen.

Game on. I look forward to debating Donald Trump in California before the June 7 primary.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 26, 2016

From The Hill:

Bernie Sanders’s campaign manager says “back-channel conversations” are underway with Donald Trump’s staff about setting up a bipartisan debate between the two presidential candidates.

“I think it would benefit voters from across the country and I have to believe it would be one of the most-watched debates in presidential politics,” Jeff Weaver said Thursday on MSNBC.

“Let's see if he has the courage to go one-on-one with Bernie Sanders,” he added.

The Sanders campaign is seeking to ramp up pressure on Trump to follow through on his Wednesday night remarks to late-night talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel.

“The senator wants to do it,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told The Hill. “We’ll see if Trump meant what he said.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

A Trump official earlier Thursday characterized the mogul's remarks as “tongue-in-cheek.”

It's not clear to me if the DNC might have an issue with such a debate between candidates of the two parties when the Democratic candidate hasn't been officially chosen yet.

Update: Donald Trump told reporters today he would be willing to debate Sanders for $10 million for charity.