Donald Trump and Joe Biden are due to face each other on the debate stage in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday evening in their first head-to-head of the 2024 election cycle.
The encounter will take place at 9pm ET and be broadcast live from CNN’s studios, with the network’s anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash serving as moderators.
The debate promises to be every bit as bad-tempered as their two face-offs in the run-up to the Covid-blighted 2020 election and the Republican has wasted no time in getting his blows in early, sneering on Wednesday that the president should be thrilled there will be no fact-checkers present because he is a “lying machine”.
This comes as the Supreme Court issued four major rulings, but left the question of Trump’s immunity from prosecution in his federal election interference case for a future date.
Meanwhile, new polling shows Trump up by just five points in a head-to-head matchup with Biden among likely voters in Texas. Trump received 48 percent to Biden’s 43 percent in the poll conducted between 11 and 20 June by the University of Texas at Tyler.
Trump’s niece will be in spin room for Biden campaign
Mary Trump, the niece of former president Donald Trump, and one of his fiercest critics, will be in the CNN debate spin room tonight for the Biden campaign.
“We cannot afford to allow Donald Trump anywhere near the levers of power again,” she says in a statement, adding he is “desperate for power” and “must be stopped.”
Oliver O’Connell27 June 2024 22:11
First lady arrives in Atlanta for debate
First Lady Jill Biden has arrived in Atlanta for tonight’s presidential debate.
Earlier in the day she was at a campaign event in Virginia Beach.
Oliver O’Connell27 June 2024 22:06
What to watch tonight: Facial expressions and nonverbal cues
The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg and Eric Garcia breakdown the importance of nonverbal cues and facial expressions in a debate in which candidate’s microphones are cut when their opponent is speaking.
Oliver O’Connell27 June 2024 22:00
CNN responds to demand for pool access to debate room
In a statement, CNN has responded to concerns from the White House Correspondents’ Association regarding press access to the debate room.
The network says the “debate is being held without an audience in a CNN studio and is closed to press”.
Here’s the statement in full:
As proud members of the White House Correspondents Association, we respect the role the organization plays and their support for press freedom and access. CNN’s Presidential Debate is being held without an audience in a CNN studio and is closed to press. The feed was made available to Washington Pool Members, Washington Pool subscribers and CNN Affiliates, and is also available to embed via CNN’s YouTube channel without charge for digital outlets and is available on CNN.com. Following our traditional approach, CNN is providing access to the debate studio for a tight pool of photographers for the duration of the event and a larger group of photographers during a commercial break. In addition, CNN is providing access to the debate hall for the designated print pool reporter during the first commercial break to allow them to provide a pool report from inside the debate studio.
The print pool reporter who will be allowed access during the first commercial break is believed to be Tyler Pager of The Washington Post.
Oliver O’Connell27 June 2024 21:51
RFK Jr. didn’t qualify for the first presidential debate. So where does he stand?
Just a couple hours before Trump and Biden face off on Thursday night, Kennedy is set to appear on Dr. Phil Primetime on Merit Street Media in what the TV personality has called an “uncensored one-on-one interview.”
In a clip shared on X, Kennedy says, “I wouldn’t be running if I didn’t think I could win.”
He added: “The one group I don’t do well with which is baby boomers, they think I’m genuinely a lunatic.”
Gustaf Kilander27 June 2024 21:45
Biden team calls out Trump and allies for ‘resorting to desperate, obviously false lies’ over drug conspiracy
The Biden campaign has responded to a conspiracy theory spread by Donald Trump and his allies that the president will be on some kind of performance-enhancing drugs for tonight’s debate.
Campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said that Trump and his allies “are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies” to avoid the issues at stake in the 2024 election.
Hitt told Fox News Digital on Wednesday evening: “Donald Trump is so scared of being held accountable for his toxic agenda of attacking reproductive freedom and cutting Social Security that he and his allies are resorting to desperate, obviously false lies.”
When asked for a yes or no answer, Hitt reiterated the point: “The accusation from Trump on drugs is a ‘desperate, obviously false lie.’”
Trump spokesperson Karolina Leavitt took a leaf from her boss’s playbook in her response to the outlet by using the term “many are saying” as a way of voicing an unproven and often baseless theory.
She told Fox News Digital that the former president would “absolutely not” be using performance-enhancing drugs and added: “President Trump has naturally elite stamina and doesn’t need performance-enhancing drugs, unlike Joe Biden, who many are saying will be drugged up for the debate like he was at the State of the Union. President Trump has repeatedly asked Joe Biden to participate in drug testing. What does Team Biden have to hide?”
Oliver O’Connell27 June 2024 21:34
Ex-Republican strategist shares ‘the rules of MAGA’: ‘Every accusation is a confession’
Lincoln Project co-founder and former Republican strategist Rick Wilson urged his followers on X to “remember the rules of MAGA” ahead of the debate tonight.
For the debate tonight, not only for the spin before and after, but for every Trump utterance on stage, remember the Rules of MAGA:
Every accusation is a confession.
Every denial is a full confession of guilt.
Every claim of evil is projection.
Every boast of strength is an admission of failure.
Every fact is subject to Trump’s sole interpretation.
Every law is a conspiracy against Trump.
Every anecdote is pure fiction.
Every casual cruelty and crazed conspiracy leads deeper into more cruelty and conspiracy.
Every word is a lie, every lie is a promise of betrayal.
Every person or group Trump claims to stand for, he loathes.
Finally, Everything Trump Touches Dies.
Rick Wilson
Oliver O’Connell27 June 2024 21:25
CNN denies rumor debate will be on a minutes-long delay
CNN has dismissed a report as false that tonight’s debate will be on a one to two-minute delay.
The rumor was also spread by Donald Trump Jr.
Oliver O’Connell27 June 2024 21:12
White House Correspondents’ Association asks CNN for debate access
In her capacity as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, NBC News reporter Kelly O’Donnell has sent a letter to CNN requesting access to the print pool reporters for the duration of the debate.
Currently, a single print reporter will be permitted to enter the studio during a commercial break to briefly observe the setting.
O’Donnell writes: “The White House pool has a duty to document, report and witness the president’s events and his movement on behalf of the American people.”
“The pool is there for the ‘what ifs?’ in a world where the unexpected dows happen. A pool reporter is present to provide context and insight by direct observation and not through the lens of the television production.”
Oliver O’Connell27 June 2024 20:59
Biden greets supporters in Atlanta ahead of debate
President Joe Biden made a quick stop ahead of tonight’s debate to greet supporters in Atlanta.
Oliver O’Connell27 June 2024 20:53